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By transfer 
March 3rd, ^ lZ 




GENERAL CUSTER 



C E R E M N I E S 

ATTENDING THE UNVEILING OF THE 
EQUESTRIAN STATUE TO MAJOR GEN- 
ERAL GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER 
BY THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, AND 
FORMALLY DEDICATED AT THE CUT 
OF MONROE, MICHIGAN, JUNE FOURTH, 
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TEN : : .- 



.1 
Index 

Acts of Legislature Page 

Providing for erection of Statue 5 

Making appropriation for Statue 7 

Providing for unveiling of Statue 11 

Address, by President Win. H. Taft 39 

Benediction, the 63 

Ceremonies, the 15 

Decorating the Statue 61 

Gregg, General, not able to be present 41 

Historical Sketch, by J. H. Kidd 69 

Invocation j- 

Last Charge, the j 1 9 

Letter of Appreciation from Mrs. Custer 29 

Oration, by Senator Win. Alden Smith 31 

Parade, the 6 j 

Presentation Address, by Governor Warner 53 

Program, the 1>, 

Poem, by Will Carleton 4.-, 

Remarks of the Sculptor 2 J 

Remarks by Hon. J. C. Burrows 43 

Report of the Commissioners 19 

Speech of Hon. Jacob Martin 57 

Statue, the, and its unveiling- 9 

Statue unveiled by Mrs. Custer 27 

Unveiling Commissioners, the 12 

ILLUSTRATION'S 

General Custer Frontispiece 

Facing 
Page 

Group — Messrs. Negus and Greening 5 

The Monument Commission 19 

The Unveiling Commission n 

The Statue 9-13 

Portraits: 

Hon. Otto Kirchner 15 

Rt. Rev. John S. Foley 17 

Mr. E. C. Potter, Sculptor 25 

Mrs. Custer 27 

Senator William Alden Smith 31 

President William H. Taft 39 

General Gregg 41 

Hon. J. C. Burrows 43 

General Whittaker 45 

Senator Chas. E. Townsend 45 

Will Carleton 45 



CAPT. NEGUS 
MR. GREENING 



I 




( APT E I. NEGUS 



MR CM AS E GREENING 



Act of the Legislature 

Providing for the Erection of the 

Statue 

After Gettysburg, the name of Michigan was 
closely linked with that of Custer. The Michigan 
Brigade was his first command, and its survivors 
always felt that the State should do something to 
perpetuate his memory. They believed that the 
project might properly be given a national character 
by looking to Congress for action. Hope of that 
soon died, however, and the only course appeared 
to be to ask the State for the needed legislation. 

At a reunion of the Michigan Cavalry brigade 
association in the year 1905, a committee was 
appointed to draft a bill providing for the erection 
of a statue on the Capitol grounds. This committee 
consisted of three members, viz: Colonel George 
G. Briggs, Grand Rapids; General James H. Kidd, 
Ionia; and Captain Edward L. Negus, Chelsea. 
This committee decided in favor of an equestrian 
statue of bronze, and reported that fifty thousand 
dollars would probably be the minimum sum required 
to erect a monument befitting the man and the State. 

A bill was drawn and placed in the hands of 
Senator Andrew C. Fyfe, who became sponsor for 
it in the legislature. It was introduced in the 
senate January 22, 1907. 

In the meantime, the "Custer Memorial Asso- 
ciation" of Monroe, of which Mr. Charles E. 
Greening was the most zealous and efficient secre- 



[6] 

tary, had prepared a bill kindred in character, hut 
which named that city as the site of the statue. 
This was introduced by Senator Kline at the same 
session of the legislature. 

It was soon seen, at least it was believed, that 
strife over the location would result in no legis- 
lation at all and postpone formal action indefinitely. 
A conference was called in Lansing, the result of 
which was that the Cavalry brigade committee 
agreed to substitute the word Monroe for that of 
Lansing, if the other side would consent to give 
the Fyfe bill, thus amended, the right of way. 
This was done. The ways and means reduced the 
appropriation to $25,000, and the bill passed. 
It received the signature of the Governor, and be- 
came a law June 27, 1907. 



THE MONUMENT COMMISSION 




COL GEO C BRIGGS 
GEN. [AMES II KIDD LIEUT. FREDERICK A NIMS 



An Act: 

Making an appropriation for the erection at 
the city of Monroe, Michigan, of an Eques- 
trian Statue of General George A. Custer. 

The People of the State of Michigan enact : 

Section 1. There is hereby appropriated from 
any moneys in the state treasury not otherwise appro- 
priated, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, 
to erect, at the city of Monroe, in the state of 
Michigan, an equestrian statue of General George 
A. Custer, to pay the commissioners appointed by 
this act to carry it into effect, and for other expenses 
as may, in the judgment of the commission, be 
actually necessary. 

Section 2. The governor shall, within thirty days 
after the passage of this act, appoint a commission 
consisting of three officers or soldiers who served in 
the Michigan Cavalry brigade, to carry same into 
effect. The actual expenses of such commission 
shall be paid out of the funds herein appropriated, 
and they shall report to the governor of the state 
of Michigan immediately upon the fulfillment oi 
their duties, and such report shall embrace in 
detail, an abstract of expenditure made, with 
vouchers therefor. 

Section 3. The auditor general shall add to and 
incorporate into the state tax for the year nineteen 
hundred eight, the sum of twenty-five thousand 
dollars, to be assessed, levied and collected, as 
other state taxes are assessed, levied and collected, 
which sum when collected shall be placed to the 
credit of the general fund to reimburse it for the sum 
appropriated by section one ol this act. 

This act is ordered to take immediate effect. 

Approved June 27, 1907. 



[8] 

To carry out the provisions of this statute, 
Governor Warner appointed Colonel George G. 
Briggs, General James H. Kidd, and Leutenant 
Frederick A. Nims commissioners. The two first 
named commanded regiments in the Michigan 
cavalry brigade. Mr. Nims served on Custer's 
staff. The commission organized by naming Chair- 
man Briggs secretary and treasurer. The corre- 
spondence and details mostly fell to him, though 
there were frequent conferences and unanimity 
characterized all decisions. 

Now that the work is done, it is a source of 
great satisfaction to the commissioners that it is 
so well done. It was to them from the beginning 
a labor of love. Without seeming to trench upon 
the subject matter of the commissioners' report, 
it may not be amiss to say that the statue, through 
the symbolism of art, realizes fully the ideals that 
were in the minds of its projectors. So far as it is 
possible for pulsing life to be mirrored in inanimate 
bronze, it is lifelike; in face, figure and pose a faithful 
presentment of man and soldier as he appeared 
when he led his Michigan troopers against Stuart's 
cavalry, on the Rummel fields at Gettysburg. 
It is a noble work of art, creditable alike to the mem- 
ory of Custer, the genius of the sculptor and the 
commonwealth of Michigan. 



THE MONUMENT 



The Statue, and Its Unveiling 

The contract with Mr. Potter, the sculptor, 
was made February 21, 1908. The statue was to 
be read}' for dedication October 1, 1909. Various 
causes conspired to delay the work, chief among 
which was the condition of the sculptor's health. In 
the spring of that year his physicians prescribed 
absolute rest. Progress upon the full-sized model 
was for a time suspended. An extension of time 
was found necessary and, to avoid the hazard of 
bad weather so late in the season, May 1, 1910, 
was agreed to as the date of completion, and the 
contract changed accordingly. 

The intention was to have the unveiling on a 
day commemorative of some battle in which General 
Custer led his Michigan brigade to victory. May 
6, anniversary of the Wilderness; May 11, of 
Yellow Tavern; May 28, of Haw's shop; June 11, 
of Trevilian Station; and June 30, of the day 
when he assumed command of the brigade, were all 
considered. But, in the end, June 4 was chosen 
for the reason that it was the one day when the 
President of the United States could be present. 



THE UNVEILING COMMISSION" 




HON (>TTo KIRCHNER 
HON [AMES V BARRY GOVERNOR WARNER GEN. JAMES H KIDD 

COL. CEO C BRIGGS LIEUT FREDERICK A NIMS 

REV M 1 CROWLEY 



Act Providing for the Unveiling 
of the Statue 

An act in relation to the unveiling of the 
Statue of General George A. Custer in the 
City of Monroe, and making an appropria- 
tion therefor. 

The People of the State of Michigan enact: 

Section. 1. It shall be the duty of the governor, 
within thirty days after this act shall take effect. 
to appoint a commission which shall have charge 
of all the services incident to the unveiling of the 
statue of General George A. Custer in the citj 
of Monroe. The said commission shall consist of 
six members, and at least three of its members shall 
be officers or soldiers who served in the Michigan 
( 'avalry brigade. The governor shall be ex-ofticio 
a member of the said commission. The members ol 
said commission shall not receive any compensation 
for the performance of any services, but shall be 
entitled to such expenses as are actually and necessa- 
rily incurred in order to carry out the provisions ol 
this act. The said commission may, if practicable, 
arrange to have a section of a battery of artillery and 
two or more companies of infantry present at the un- 
veiling of said statue; to arrange a program suitable 
for the occasion, and to provide for the expense of 
procuring speakers; to provide suitable souvenir 
badges to be distributed to the survivors of Custer's 
Michigan Cavalry brigade; to provide for printing 
a suitable volume containing the history of the 
statue and a record of the proceedings and speeches 
delivered at the unveiling of the said statue, which 
volume shall be similar to that heretofore issued 
by the state, entitled "Michigan at Gettysburg," 
and to arrange any and all such other matters as 



[12] 

may be properly and necessarily incident to the 
unveiling of the said statue. 

Section 2. The sum of two thousand dollars, or 
so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby 
appropriated out of the general fund in the state 
treasury to be used within the discretion of the 
said commission to defray the expenses necessarily 
incurred in carrying out the provisions of this act. 
All bills shall be paid when properly approved by 
the board of state auditors upon proper vouchers 
rendered therefor. Any part or portion of the sum 
herein appropriated which shall not be used, shall 
be paid into the general fund in the state treasury. 

Section 3. The auditor general shall add to and 
incorporate in the state tax for the year nineteen 
hundred nine the sum of two thousand dollars, to be 
assessed, levied and collected as other state taxes 
are assessed, levied and collected, which sum shall 
be used to reimburse the general fund in the state 
treasury for the amount appropriated by this act. 

This act is ordered to take immediate effect. 

Approved May 18, 1909. 



The governor named as unveiling commissioners: 
Hon. Otto Kirchner, Detroit; Hon. James V. Barry, 
Lansing; Father M. J. Crowley, Monroe; and the 
three members of the original statue commission. 
The commission met in the executive parlor in the 
Capitol, March 16, 1910, All were present except 
Father Crowley. Mr. Kirchner was chosen vice- 
chairman and acting chairman; Mr. Barry, sec- 
retary-treasurer; Messrs. Kidd and Briggs com- 
mittee on program; Messrs. Kirchner and Barry 
committee on orator for the occasion; Mr. Nims 
committee on music. 



THE MONUMENT 



The Program 

OF 

Ceremonies Attending the Unveiling of the 

Equestrian Statue of 

Major General George Armstrong Custer. 

Erected by 

The People of the State of Michigan 

Conformably to an Act of the Legislature. 

Monroe, Michigan, 

June 4, 1910. 

Hon. Otto Kirchner, Vice-Chairman, Presiding. 



Invocation by Right Reverend John S. Foley, 
Bishop of Detroit. 

Report of Monument Commission by Colonel George 
G. Briggs, Chairman. 

Remarks by the Sculptor, Mr. Edward C. Potter. 

Unveiling of Statue by Mrs. Elizabeth B. Custer. 

Salute of 17 guns by First Battery, Field Artillery, 
M. N. G., band playing "Star Spangled Banner." 

Address by The President of the United States. 

Oration by Senator William Alden Smith. 



f 14 I 

Remarks by Major General D. McM. Gregg, 
Commander of the Second Cavalry Division, 
Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac. 

Remarks by Brigadier General Edward W.Whittaker. 

Poem by Will. Carleton. 

I 'reservation of Statue by Governor Fred M. Warner. 

Response by Hon. Jacob Martin, Mayor of Monroe. 

"America" by the band. 

Placing of Laurel Wreaths at base of Monument by 
President William O. Lee, Michigan Cavalry 
Brigade Association. While these wreaths are 
being placed, "The Old Brigade" will be sung 
by a chorus of 75 voices. 

Benediction by Right Reverend Chas. D. Williams, 
Bishop of Michigan. 



HON. OTTO KIROHNER 



The Ceremonies 

HON. OTTO KIRCHNER. PRESIDING 

Mr. Kirchnek: Please come to order. 

Mr. President, Mrs. Custer, Veterans of the 
Custer Brigade, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The people of the State of Michigan, gratefully 
appreciative of the splendid part he took in the war 
for the preservation of the nation, and in testimony 
of his ever-lamented martyrdom, suffered in the 
defense of the nation's sovereignty, have erected 
this equestrian statue to the memory of Major 
General George Armstrong Custer. 

We have gathered, my friends, from all parts of 
this fair land, not only to witness the unveiling of 
the statue by the hand of her who was the companion 
and playmate of his boyhood; and who later, as his 
wife, shared the dangers that he passed and the 
hardships he endured in the defense of his country, 
but, that we may also bear testimony to the love 
and veneration with which the American people 
cherish his memory. 

Upon what we do here today, 1 now call upon 
Bishop Foley to invoke the blessing of Almighty 
God. 



BISHOP FOLEY 







»«■ fcv "- 



3 






Invocation 

BY RIGHT REVEREND JOHN S. FOLEY, 
BISHOP OF DETROIT 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and 
of the Holy Ghost, look down, we beseech Thee, 
O almighty and eternal God, upon Thy people here 
assembled. Illumine their understanding that they 
may know Thee. Inflame their hearts that they 
may love Thee and guide them that following the 
teachings and commandments of Thy Divine Son, 
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, they may attain eternal 
life. 

We invoke Thee, O God of might, wisdom and 
justice, through whom laws are enacted and decreed, 
assist with Thy holy spirit of counsel and fortitude 
the President of these United States, that his 
administration may be conducted in righteousness, 
and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom 
he presides, by encouraging due respect for virtue 
and religion, by a faithful execution of the laws in 
justice and mercy, and by restraining vice and 
immorality. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and 
Savior. Amen. 

Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be 
Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be 
done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day 
our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we for- 
give our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but 
deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and 
the power and the Glory forever. Amen. 



C()I.. GEO. C. BRIGGS 



Report of the Commissioners 

Appointed to Erect The Monument 

Mr. Kirchner: The making of this statue 
was committed, by the governor, to a commission 
appointed by him under an act of the legislature. 
That commission consisted of Colonel George G. 
Briggs, General James H. Kidd, and Lieutenant 
Frederick A. Nims. 

We had expected Col. George G. Briggs to make 
a report of the stewardship of this commission, but 
he is not able to be with us today, and in his absence 
the report will be presented by General Kidd, whom 
I now have the honor to present to you. 



The Report 

Your Excellency, and Mr. President: The 
ceremony attending the formal dedication of the 
monument erected by the state to General George A. 
Custer, fittingly includes a word from the commis- 
sion to whom was entrusted the supervision of its 
construction. 

Having served under Custer, and having an 
unbounded admiration for his great qualities as a 
general of cavalry, as well as retaining a sense of 
gratitude for his helpful counsel and unwavering 
friendship, the work entrusted to the commission 
was at once invested with a personal interest, and 
enlisted from its members their best thought and 
conscientious effort. The one desire has been to 
provide a monument that should be a credit to the 



t 20 ] 

state, and in every respect worthy the great soldier 
whose memory it would commemorate. It is be- 
lieved, in this instance, that desire and accomplish- 
ment are happily joined. 

The erection of every successful monument 
involves responsibility, much labor, and the exercise 
of good judgment. In meeting these requirements, 
both time and thought have been freely given by 
the commission. In the choice of sculptor, the 
commission had to decide between the claims of 
twenty-five applicants for the work. Pending the 
determination of a question of so much importance, 
consideration was given to the character of work 
already done by the different applicants, and to a 
careful study of the several sketch models which 
had been prepared and submitted for the proposed 
statue. The sculptor to be chosen, and the design 
of monument to be adopted, were questions of such 
importance that much time was given to their 
consideration. Including visits to New York, Green- 
wich, Elmsford and Newburg, where the studios of 
the different artists are located, four months were 
consumed in the solution of these problems. After 
carefully considering the claims and qualifications 
of the several sculptors in competition, it was 
decided to give the award to Mr. Edward C. Potter, 
of Greenwich, Connecticut. Results obtained jus- 
tify the wisdom of his selection. Prior to receiving 
this last award, Mr. Potter had won recognition 
by the statue to General Hooker, at Boston, that of 
General Slocum at Gettysburg, General Devens, at 
Worcester, and numerous other meritorious works. 
It is not too much to claim for his statue to General 
Custer, his last work, that it will take rank with the 



[21] 

best achievements in the domain of sculpture. It 
is a work of art, and embodies the qualities of reality, 
and the spirit of life and action. In its conception 
and execution the statue is made to represent an 
incident of frequent occurrence in the experience 
of General Custer, and which may be fittingly 
termed "Sighting the Enemy." The advance of his 
horse is suddenly arrested, a rapid survey of the 
field is taken, to be followed by prompt orders that 
will place his command in position for the impending 
conflict. The pose of both horse and rider is excel- 
lent, while the likeness and youthful figure of the 
general is all that could be desired. It will be 
remembered that Custer was but twenty-four years 
of age at the time he was winning important victor- 
ies with the Michigan cavalry brigade. 

The pedestal of the monument, very beautiful 
in simplicity of line and grace of proportions, is 
after a design by Hunt & Hunt, a well-known firm 
of architects in New York. The bronze castings of 
the statue were made by Gorham & Company, New 
York, and the work is of the highest excellence. 
The pedestal is of polished Concord granite, and was 
supplied by Mr. John Swenson, Concord, New 
Hampshire. 

In the matter of inscription, an innovation has 
been made upon the custom usually followed. It 
was the opinion of the commission that, in placing 
the single word "Custer" upon the pedestal, no 
higher tribute to his greatness could be paid; that 
the name alone embraced all that any inscription 
could tell — and much more. Excepting the words, 
"Erected by the State of Michigan," no other 
inscription has been used. 



[2-2] 

The contract with Mr. Potter provided for 
the payment to him of $24,000, which amount was 
to be paid in the following manner, to-wit: $5,000 
when the working model of statue was approved; 
$7,000 when the full-size model in plaster was com- 
pleted; $7,000 when the statue was successfully 
cast in bronze, and $5,000 when completed 
monument should be in place, and ready for dedi- 
cation. The several payments were safeguarded by 
a bond of $24,000, running to the state of Michigan, 
and which was executed by Edward C. Potter, 
principal, and the Aetna Indemnity Company, New 
York, as surety. Mr. Potter has been paid the first 
three installments called for by the contract, and a 
voucher in his favor has been approved, for the 
last, or final payment. 

The attitude of the commission towards the fund 
placed at its disposal was one of strict economy. 
The amount appropriated for the work was but 
$25,000, and it was a debatable question if a suitable 
monument could be had for the amount available 
to cover its cost. In this connection, it is perhaps 
worthy of record that, while the act creating the 
commission provided for pay to its members, and 
the employment of a secretary, the expenses thus 
authorized were not permitted to be a tax upon the 
fund. That every possible dollar of the appropria- 
tion might be available for use in securing a suitable 
monument, it was voted by the commissioners to 
make no charge for their services, and, for like 
reason, the employment of a secretary was dispensed 
with. The work of preparing necessary documents, 
the keeping of records, and the conducting of corre- 
spondence, involving the writing of many hundreds 



[ 23 ] 

of communications, was performed by the chairman 
of the commission. 

In the prosecution of its mission, the commission 
made three trips to the studio of the sculptor at 
Greenwich, Connecticut, and one to the city of 
Monroe. The former were for the purpose of 
inspecting and approving the statue at the different 
stages of construction, and the latter for examination 
of the site selected for the location of the monument. 

The expenses of the commission for railroad 
fares, hotel bills, books of record, postage stamps, 
express charges and stationery have been $647.72. 

Of the appropriation there is an unexpended 
balance of $151.38 as shown by the following state- 
ment. 

Amount of appropriation. . . . $25,000.00 

Paid Edward C. Potter for 

Monument, per contract . $24,000.00 

Paid Geo. C. Mills for ser- 
vices as inspector 140.90 

Paid Maurier Bros, for cement 
walk around monument. . . . 60.00 

Paid Commissioners to reim- 
burse them for expenses . . . 647.72 

Amount remaining in fund to 

balance 151.38 



$25,000.00 $25,000.00 

In the performance of its work, the commission 
has had the active and intelligent assistance of 
Mrs. Custer. During the civil war, and later, upon 
the frontier, whenever the exigencies of the service 
would admit, Mrs. Custer was the general's constant 



[24] 

companion. Since the sad tragedy upon the Little 
Big Horn, in 1876, she has lived in the memory of 
her husband's splendid manhood, and has found 
comfort in recalling the happy days of their eventful 
lives. During all stages of the commission's work 
Mrs. Custer's interest has been constant, and her 
advice valuable. In supplying the sculptor with 
articles belonging to the general's war-time uniform, 
in aiding him to model a correct likeness, and in 
giving information concerning the general's figure 
and appearance, her aid has been of the utmost 
value. 

And now, your excellency, its work being finished, 
it only remains for the commission to relinquish its 
control of the monument, now ready for the dedica- 
tion, and to give the same into your care and custody. 
In taking leave of a work which has received their 
devoted attention for so many months, the commis- 
sioners desire to express their obligations to you for 
having given them the privilege of assisting in the 
erection of a monument to their "Old Commander." 

In providing this monument to General Custer, 
the state testifies its appreciation of the services 
rendered to the country by a loyal citizen and a great 
soldier. His name and fame will last while history 
shall endure, and the commonwealth honors itself 
by honoring his memory. 

Col. Geo. G. Briggs, 

Chairman. 
Commissioners : 

General James H. Kidd, 

Col. Geo. G. Briggs, 

Lieut. Frederick A. Nims. 



EDWARD C. POTTER 



Remarks of the Sculptor 

Mr. Edward C. Potter 

Mr. Kirchner: The design and production of 
the monument was entrusted to Mr. Edward C. 
Potter. I trust that, so far as his modesty will permit 
him to do so, he will tell us of the making of the 
statue. Mr. Potter has very kindly consented to be 
with us, and I have the great honor of presenting 
him to you now. 

Mr. Potter: This is rather an exceptional thing 
for a sculptor to do. I never spoke before, for I am 
simply hired to make the statue, but I do want to 
thank the commission for the great assistance they 
gave me all during the work, and also Mrs. Custer. 
No man ever worked with men more enthusiastic 
and more helpful to the sculptor than the members of 
the Custer statue commission, and I want to thank 
them publicly. 

I have been asked to speak about the making 
of the statue. I hardly know what to say about 
that, but I do want to speak about the position of 
the statue, as some criticism has been made of the 
way it is placed in the square. I came here two years 
ago with the commissioners to study the site so I 
might be better prepared to make the sketch. I 
made the sketch and submitted it to the commis- 
sioners and it was accepted. At the time I was here, 
I asked the commissioners to consider the placing 
of the heading of the statue toward the south. 
We all recognize the fact that naturally it would 
face toward the town, but unfortunately, the sun 



[ 26 ] 

travels around the statue on the south the greater 
pan of the year, and we wanted the sunlight on the 
face of the man. Before it was fully decided to 
head it south, I put the statue in the plaster out 
in front of my study at Greenwich, Connecticut; 
showed it to several sculptors and the members of 
the commission, and we all decided it would be very 
unfortunate to have the statue placed so the face 
should be in the shadow most of the year. On the 
field at Gettysburg, it is usual to face a statue toward 
theline of the enemy, and I think itis very appropri- 
ate that the statue of Custer should face south, for 
whoever heard of Custer showing the tail of his 
horse to a Southerner? 



MRS. CUSTER 



The Statue Unveiled by 
Mrs. Custer 

Mr. Kirchner: Will you all rise while Mrs. 
Custer unveils the monument. 

Mrs. Custer was escorted to the speaker's stand 
by President Taft, who stood just back of her while 
she pulled the yellow ribbon, the cavalry color, 
that unloosed the great flags and unveiled the 
monument at just 10:50 A. M., amid great applause. 
A salute of seventeen guns was fired by the battery 
while the band played "The Star Spangled Banner;'' 
(all standing). 



Letter of Appreciation from 
Mrs. Custer 

Bronxville, New York, 
July 23, 1910. 
My Dear Governor Warner: 

I had little opportunity to tell you how satisfac- 
tory I found it to work with the committee so wisely 
chosen by you to select the sculptor for my husband's 
statue. 

They made me feel I could be of assistance to 
them, and yet I had no responsibility in the choice 
of the artist, and, being soldiers, they knew so well 
what a cavalry officer ought to be in bronze. 

I thank you also for having honored me in your 
excellent address, and for every word you said of 
my husband. 

In reading your tribute to him I feel the sincerity 
of your praise of General Custer, and especially 
appreciate the closing lines. That the beautiful 
statue should be an inspiration to the young is a 
thought I cherish from you. 

It was the great day of my life, my dear governor, 
and not only was my heart filled with gratitude to 
my state, and my town, for all they had done to per- 
petuate my husband's memory, but I feel deeply 
the universal kindness shown me. 
Most sincerely yours, 

Elizabeth B. Custer. 



HON. WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH 



The Oration 

By Senator William Alden Smith* 

Mr. Kirchner: I now have the honor of 
presenting the orator of the day, the Honorable 
William Alden Smith, a United States senator from 
the state of Michigan. 

SENATOR SMITH : Mr. President, Mrs. Custer, 
and Fellow Citizens: 

On a beautiful day, under clear skies, with the 
shade of the trees which knew Custer as a youth, in 
the presence of magistrates and legislators, yea, 
in the presence of the chief magistrate of the nation 
Custer helped to save, in the presence of his loved 
one, before the church where he plighted his faith, 
under the auspices of his comrades of the civil war, 
we gather today to do honor to the distinguished 
dead. 

In an atmosphere laden with patriotism, at a 
time when nature is arrayed in its most beautiful 
attire, in a city he dearly loved, among the friends 
of his boyhood, we gather to pay our tribute to tho 
unconquered and unconquerable Custer. 

Under the flag he dedicated to liberty on nearly 
a hundred battlefields, we come to pay the deserved 
honor which his life merited. 

People of Michigan, your proud and grateful 
hearts outstrip my lips in pronouncing the name of 
General George Armstrong Custer. Perhaps he was 
not as patient as Grant; perhaps he was not as well 



*Senator Smith preceded the President in his address at the 
latter's special request. 



[32] 

poised as Thomas; perhaps he was not as fascinating 
as Sheridan; yet he was bound heart to heart with 
these great men, absorbing all their separate gifts, 
and adding all his own wonderful and inspiring 
personality, he fused the whole into the brilliant 
glow of his all-inspiring energy, unerring perception 
and sublime will. As he gracefully moved among 
his comrades, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by 
night, with brain and heart and conscience all alive 
to the gravity of our country's peril; strongly en- 
trenched in his own honesty, the gold of a kingdom 
could not buy him; enshrined in the love of his 
fellow countrymen, hostile arrows fell idly at his 
feet. He bore a commission from on high. He was 
a special messenger from God in America's greatest 
trial. 

From the farmer's furrow, his burning ambition 
burst forth, and John A. Bingham of Ohio, he of 
pleasant memory, touched the spark that was destined 
to illumine a continent; from a village school in 
poverty and distress, Congressman Bingham set him 
upon the banks of the Hudson river where Grant and 
Lee mastered the arts of war. He passed as natur- 
ally to his position as a bird in its flight, and the 
experience of West Point transformed this inex- 
perienced Michigan boy into a veritable hurricane 
of war. Tender and affectionate in his home, 
loving and dutiful as a son, loyal and devoted to 
his girl wife, whom I take pleasure in saluting in 
behalf of the commonwealth who love you as Custer 
loved you. 

Our flag is brighter, more inspiring and beauti- 
ful because of the daring heroism of the intrepid 
soldier, the idol of the Michigan brigade. Clean 



[33] 

and manly in his private life, he exemplified the 
highest soldierly attainments. 

As a mere boy he planted his flag in the thickest 
of the battle, in the southland he never lost a cannon 
or a color; his name was the synonym of virtue and 
valor. Flaxen-haired, blue-eyed, lithe in figure, 
straight as an arrow, his long hair setting off a coun- 
tenance upon which the God of Nature must have 
pondered as he set it upon the shoulders of a man. 
No situation in the war was too bewildering for 
Custer — no, wherever he led, his intrepid followers 
were eager to follow him. His manner was so 
prepossessing, his sense of justice so acute, his 
leadership so masterful that danger was to him a 
joyful pastime, while the roll of cannon was music 
to his ears. 

Lee and Custer served together in the Fifth 
United States cavalry when they were boys. They 
separated at West Point, one going to the north 
where he was needed, the other to the south where 
he was loved. 

Had it not been for the dogged persistency 
of Custer at Cedar Creek, in the Shenandoah Valley, 
fearlessly battling away against great odds, Sheri- 
dan would not have found the situation he did when 
he rode from Winchester, twenty miles away. Had 
it not been for Custer and the Michigan brigade at 
the Yellow Tavern, where he rendered such a great 
service to his country, where the great rebel cavalry 
leader, J. E. B. Stuart, met his first defeat and 
lost his life, I verily believe that those soldiers of 
Sheridan would have found themselves in a predica- 
ment difficult to extricate them from. But why 
should I rehearse a story with which you are more 



[34] 

familiar than myself? Before your eyes a living 
panorama was enacted ; in the center of that tragedy, 
your idol was a hero. We come today to do honor 
to one of the most inspiring soldiers of the civil war. 
Out of the smoke and carnage of Gettysburg; out 
of the patient vigil on the long march and the momen- 
tous danger; amid the dead and dying — blue and 
gray — came the flaxen-haired boy soldier of the 
union at the head of all that was left of the granite- 
like Michigan brigade. 

In capturing the Lynchburg pike and Appo- 
mattox station and taking away thestores and artillery 
of Lee's army, Custer contributed to the final peace 
of the war. Custer, on the firing line at Appomat- 
tox, was the first to receive the flag of truce; one of 
Custer's soldiers was the first federal officer within 
the rebel lines, and he told me as I was leaving 
Washington, that when the flag of truce was waved 
to the Michigan Brigade and the soldiers of Meade 
and Grant, that he asked Custer what order he had 
to give. Custer said: "You accompany Major 
Sims to Generals Gordon and Longstreet, and say- 
to them that I am powerless to suspend the fighting 
unless the surrender of the Confederate soldiers 
is unconditional." 

General Whittaker, of pleasant memory, said 
that the surrender was unconditional. I said to a 
Confederate follower of General Gordon only day 
before yesterday, "What took place when Gordon 
and Longstreet concluded that they would wave the 
white flag?" He said, "Gordon said to his chief 
of staff, 'Go and get a white flag of truce;' the 
officer retired and soon reappeared and said to 
General Gordon, 'There ain't a white flag in the 



[35] 

Confederate army;' Gordon said, 'Go and get a 
white handkerchief;' the man was gone several 
minutes, and when he returned he said to his chief, 
'General, there isn't a white handkerchief in the 
Confederate army;' General Gordon said to his 
chief of staff, 'Go and get a white shirt,' and after 
an absence of twenty minutes, this Confederate 
says, that the chief of staff returned and reported to 
Gordon that there wasn't a white shirt in the Con- 
federate army, and the only thing that could be 
used was a half dirty, half white piece of toweling. 
That toweling was waved by Major Sims in the 
face of the fire of the Michigan brigade under 
Custer's command." And two or three days ago 
Mr. Garey told me that he loaned Custer his white 
handkerchief with which to return the salutation 
of peace, and I believe that handkerchief is now in 
the possession of the beautiful Mrs. Custer. He 
was on the firing line, and his soldiers knew no lim- 
itation upon their valor. 

Custer had the habit of carrying his colors 
whenever he went into battle. Whoever captured 
the colors of a rebel soldier was made a staff officer 
under Custer, and rode with him by his side into 
every engagement until he was compelled to pass 
his colors over to the war department. It is said 
that Custer presented the most inspiring figure of 
all the soldiers in appearance, with these colors 
of the enemy floating over the heads of his victorious 
following. 

General Sheridan has written to Mrs. Custer, the 
day following the peace at Appomattox, telling 
her that the nation should always be proud of the 
part Custer took in the Appomattox campaign. 



[36] 

My fellow-countrymen, he rode at the head of 
the third division of the Army of the Potomac, down 
Pennsylvania avenue, to be reviewed by the presi- 
dent at the close of the war; he was the most inspiring 
figure in that parade. Custer rode with wreaths and 
flowers on a horse, a race horse I believe, which 
he captured in North Carolina. The people cheered 
this idol; the people greeted him everywhere; in the 
enthusiasm of the hour Custer's horse ran away, but 
not so with the driver. He climbed to any occa- 
sion; he righted up that $9,000 racer in less time 
than it took to tell, as he would have guided him 
to his place in the face of the enemy. 

My fellow-countrymen, the soldiers of the civil 
war have left us a proud legacy. We should all 
appreciate it. What can we do to show our appre- 
ciation? Can we not absolve skepticism and vituper- 
ation from the respectable walks of American sold- 
ierly and public life? I hope we can. Open wide the 
windows of your soul and let in the optimism of Cus- 
ter and bid farewell to the skepticism of his critics. 
It is a signal and brilliant occasion; this new resolu- 
tion should be made; the price of American citizen- 
ship should come a little higher after this ceremony 
than before. 

We make our citizens too freely in America. I 
welcome the armies of industrious aliens from any 
shore; the broad bosom of Columbia will give wel- 
come to any who are willing to call her mother, but 
those aliens and un-American armies, who march 
under a red flag in preference to the emblem of our 
citizenship, are a menace to our country. Men did 
not give up their lives; soldiers have not hobbled 
through life; mothers have not become widows 



[ 37 ] 

and given their children to the war, only to have the 
ignorant and the vicious of other lands set the marks 
of American patriotism. 

Have a care for Columbia. Let not from her 
brow the stars be torn and trampled in the dust, 
for so it was in the vandal-trampled Rome and, where 
the palace of the Caesar stood, the lone wolf un- 
molested makes her lair. Here the patriot plants 
his flag; here the young are taught to love their 
country and flag, which should bind each other to 
loyalty; where generosity should kindle its fires 
and bring forgotten truth to the eyes of men, let 
this country last, by God's great blessing, t o the 
human race; not where party or nationality must be 
sacrificed; not where marked compromises must be 
considered — these are the seeds of vice, war and 
national disorganization, and my advice to those dis- 
turbing elements who march under a red flag in pref- 
erence to our own, is that they better lower their 
flag and become citizens of the purest and best 
republic on the earth, or leave our country for our 
country's sake. 

Wave proudly and grandly, O flag of our country; 
from each of thy folds let some patriotic instinct go 
out; from each star let every empire see its duty 
and every republic find its hope. 

My countrymen, you and I will some day 
appreciate the fact that the men who are all about 
us today gave us our liberty, and it is our duty to 
follow in the patriotic footsteps they have so gener- 
ously set. 

Now, my countrymen, I want to acknowledge 
my great debt of gratitude to the President of the 
United States for his courtesy in asking me to pre- 



[38] 

cede him upon this occasion. It is indeed a great 
compliment to have the foremost citizen in the world 
present. While you remember Lincoln, Washington. 
Jefferson and Adams are in our memories a benedic- 
tion to our United States; while you remember 
Lincoln and Garfield and Grant and McKinley and 
the noble Harrison and the intrepid Roosevelt, and 
others of that illustrious line, our president, in 
character, in breadth of fitness, in determination, 
in kindly affection, in patriotism and love of country, 
is the peer of them all. 

I thank you again and again, Mr. Chairman, 
for the high honor you have conferred upon me. I 
know how illy I have met your expectations, but 
from a sick bed to a scene like this would be an 
inspiration to any man. I extend to you the greet- 
ings of a full heart. 

And, to Mrs. Custer, I wish that this day may 
give her renewed life and vigor to live in the memory 
of one who is idolized by every citizen of Michigan. 



PR 



W 



AM II. TAFT 



The Address 

By William H. Taft, 
President of the United States 

Mr. Kirchner: It is most fit that this occa- 
sion should be graced by the presence and active 
participation of the President. As our chief magis- 
trate, representing the power and dignity of the 
nation, he is, I am sure, at all times and in all places, 
within the ample folds of the stars and stripes, 
most cordially welcome. But we of Michigan take 
special delight in his presence, because William 
Howard Taft was not only well known to, but well 
beloved by the people of Michigan long before, as 
well as since, his present great office came to him. 
My friends, I have the great pleasure and honor 
of presenting to you upon this occasion, at the 
same time and in the same person, our friend William 
Howard Taft, and the President of the United States. 

(Long continued applause.) 

The President: Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Custer, 
Fellow Citizens of Michigan and of the United 
States, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

After the most appropriate and eloquent oration 
by your distinguished senator in congress from 
Michigan, there remains but little for me to say. 
He spoke on behalf of the people of Michigan, and 
spoke most of those services which Custer rendered 
during the civil war, in which the state of Michigan 
took rightly a special pride, and looks back to the 
memory of Custer with especial gratitude. 



[40] 

A typical soldier, a great cavalry commander, a 
man whose memory brings out of the past the names 
of the greatest cavalry commanders of the world , 
Murat, Prince Rupert and others, he stands equal 
with all of them. From Bull Run to Appomattox, 
in every bloody battle of the army of the Potomac, he 
was the right arm of the commander of the forces 
as the leader of the cavalry corps and the cavalry 
brigade. A brigadier-general at twenty-three, a 
major-general at twenty-five, he showed in his life 
that same worth and force that we have in most of 
the great military commanders of the world. 

But, I came here, my friends, to speak today of 
a phase of General Custer's career that is not dwelt 
upon with as much emphasis and gratitude as I 
think it deserves. He stood among the heroes of 
the civil war, and for four years he led his cavalry 
in the defense of the flag to unite the union. But, 
after the war, for ten years he rendered a service to 
his country that we do not as fully appreciate as I 
wish we did. He was one of that small band of 
twenty-five thousand men constituting the regular 
army of the United States, without whose service, 
whose exposure to danger, whose loss of life, and 
whose hardships and trials it would not have been 
possible for us to have settled the great west. The 
story of that campaign of ten or fifteen years, in 
which that small body of men led by the generals who 
had been at the head of their tens of thousands in 
the civil war, and who now only had under them 
hundreds where they had had tens of thousands 
before, we do not know as well as we should. The 
trials, the cruelty, the dangers they had to undergo 
in protecting the moving settler toward the west, in 



GEN. D. McM. GREGG 



[41] 

making the building of railroads possible, and in 
putting down and driving out the bloody Indians 
whose murders made the settlement, until they 
were driven out, impossible. That regular army is 
an army of whom the United States may well be 
proud, and the officers' wives, of whom Mrs. Custer 
is so conspicuous and charming an example, contrib- 
uted their full share to the efficiency, to the bravery 
and courage of that small body of heroes. And, I am 
here not to dwell upon it, but only to note, as the 
President of the United States, the indebtedness of 
the country to the regular army during those ten or 
fifteen years in opening the west, and to testify to 
the effectiveness and heroism of General George 
Armstrong Custer in that great battle continued 
for a decade; to that great war for civilization, of 
which he was the most conspicuous and shining 
sacrifice. 



Mr. Kirchner: We had expected to have with 
us today General Gregg, but old age and disability 
contracted in the service of his country have made 
it impossible for him to be here. Senator Julius 
Caesar Burrows has kindly consented to speak for 
him. He needs no introduction to the people of 
the state of Michigan, and I now have the honor to 
present to you the Honorable Julius Caesar Burrows. 



HON. J. C. BURROWS 



Remarks by Hon. J. C. Burrows 

United States Senator 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I did 
not agree to act as a substitute for anybody. I am 
drafted and, of course, obliged to surrender. I want 
to say at the very outset that I shall not attempt to 
make a speech. After the magnificent utterances 
to which you have listened, I only desire to say 
just a word or two in relation to this statue; magni- 
ficent in proportion; splendid in execution, it is a 
fitting tribute to the great man whom it represents. 
I do not know what its foundations are; but, if 
planted so deep as to rest on the eternal rock, it 
will not be more enduring than his fidelity. Had 
you burnished its sides until they were as resplendent 
as the noonday sun, it would not be brighter than 
his heroic deeds; had you chiseled his name in its 
granite so deep that it would defy the ravages of 
time, it would not be more enduring than his fidelity; 
had you lifted the statue until it kissed the heavens, 
it would not be loftier than his heroic deeds. No 
statue can perpetuate his memory, but I congratu- 
late the citizens of Monroe that you have in your 
midst this splendid statue of this splendid man. It 
is left to you for your keeping, but his name and his 
fame is not yours alone; it belongs to the state; it 
belongs to the nation; it belongs to liberty, and there 
it will remain forever. I thank you, my fellow 
citizens, and I have said this much to satisfy you 
that my friend made a mistake when he said I was 
going to take anybody's place, for I can't do it. 



[44] 

Mr. Kirchner: General Whittaker, whom we 
had expected to see here, is likewise unable to be 
present, and the Hon. Charles E. Townsend, repre- 
sentative in Congress from the state of Michigan 
will now address you in his place and stead. Mr.' 
lownsend, will you come forward? 

Mr. Townsend seemed to have left the stand 
and there was no response. 



GEN. E. VV. WHITAKER 



HON. CHARLES E. TOWNSEND 



WILL CARLETON 



"The Heart and the Sword" 

Poem, by Will Carleton 

Mr. Kirchner: I have been thinking these 
many years that the muses have sung many songs to 
the high patriotism, the courage and heroism of 
General Custer, but it has been given to very few of 
us to understand their language or appreciate the 
music of their song Fortunately, we have with us 
today a distinguished citizen of our state, upon whom 
this gift has been bestowed in ample measure, who 
will now tell you what the muses have been pouring 
into his delighted ears. I now have the great 
honor to present to you Will Carleton. 



"THE HEART AND THE SWORD" 

He walked the streets of the staid old town — ■ 

His step was boyish, his face was fair; 
The rays from above came glinting down, 

And toyed with the locks of his sun-strown hair. 
His look and his walk and his voice expressed 
The themes and thoughts of a boy's unrest; 
But where was the match to light the flame? 
A journey to greatness mocked his soul, 
But where was the path to the brilliant goal? 
He was just a boy with a humble name, 
Unhelped by a kinsman's wealth or fame: 
"I must win my spurs," his proud heart cried, 
"And earn the horse upon which I ride!" 
"I must pierce the forest of glory," he said, 
"And hew a path upon which to tread." 
So walked Ulysses in days of yore, 
On Ithaca's far-famed island shore; 



[46] 



So Caesar fondled, a weak-armed boy, 

His mimic sword as a dangerous toy; 

So in the Corsican's humble town, 

Trudged young Napoleon up and down ; 

So with his humble hatchet of truth, 

Walked Washington as a callow youth; 

So Grant, unfollowed by gleaming ranks, 

Along the Ohio's shifting banks; 

So in the depths of a southern state 

Walked Lincoln, not knowing that he was greal ; 

So wandered along in boyhood's way, 

Our peace-king, Taft, who is here today; 

So wanders today some lonely boy, 

Whom God is waiting to yet employ, 

When youthful apprenticeship is through, 

In something great He would have him do. 

How know we but there may walk today 

These streets, in its dole and mirth, 
A soul clad newly in childhood's clay, 

That sometime may shake the earth? 
What visions came to our dreaming boy? 

What grandeurs assailed his eyes? 
What fields of glory and thrills of joy 

His slumberings would surprise? 
What gay clouds galloped across the sky, 
Like cavalry-troops from camps on high? 
Perchance the heroes of time-worn days 
Came out of their tombs to greet his gaze, 
Where giant palatial headboards rest 
Their stone feet over the pulseless breast — 
From battle-lands that their secrets keep 
While guarding the unknown soldiers' sleep; 
From Arlington's acres, where now waves 
Our flag o'er twenty thousand graves, 
Perhaps to his heart there came the thrill 
Of thunder-echoes from Bunker Hill; 
Perhaps he could hear the bullets' rain, 
Of muskets yelling at Lundy's Lane; 
Perhaps he could hear the billows break 



[47] 

Of Perry's victory on the lake : 

Proud Erie that chants from shore to shore, 

The song of that triumph o'er and o'er; 

Perhaps lie could hear the glorious fray 

At Buena Vista or Monterey. 

Perchance through rifts of his mind would glide 

The day of the Raisin's red-stained tide. 

The blood of which fame's long annals tell, 

Can flow in a schoolboy's veins as well ; 

And heroes whose lips are cold and dumb, 

Preach heroism for the lives to come. 

What visions awoke the dreamy boy, 

Of bravery fierce and turbulent joy? 

He saw while within the school-room's door, 

In his heart's gallery o'er and o'er, 

War's moving pictures, that flashed him by: 

He vowed a soldier to live and die. 

Perchance when he saw the light-guards come, 

With war's gay raiment and roll of drum, 

And jauntily travel up and down, 

The staring streets of the village-town, 

Or when on the peaceful stretch of road, 

Trooped saddled horses by men bestrode, 

He felt the thrill of the loud drum-roll 

Go tearing its path through his waiting soul. 

He heard the song of the silver horns. 

The fife, with its rythmic flowers and thorns, 

The measured tread of the well-trained feet — 

Live pendulums ticking along the street; 

And these quick furnished a newer part 

To something already in his heart. 

Perchance, when he felt those lovelorn joys 

That creep through the hearts of tiniest boys, 

He vowed that the child-maid he adored 

Should gaze at his prowess bye and bye, 
And that the glitter of his sharp sword 

With love should kindle her modest eye. 
How soon the views of a larger life 

Grow up, in the heart that's human! — 



[48] 



The boy has love for the future wife, 

The girl is at heart a woman. 
The soul of this boy sung the mingled song. 

That love in the fiercest of conflict tells: 
No wonder the thunder of war ere long, 

Was softened with chimes of wedding bells! 

He walked in the famous West Point town, 

That clung to the Hudson's ragged side, 
Where ancient mountains looked grandly down, 

And lorded it over the rushing tide. 
Brave hamlet! brimming with peaceful charms, 
Yet full of the gleam and clash of arms! 
And boys on whom, a few years hence, 
The Nation would lean for a strong defence! 
And teachers versed in the stern old art 
Of tearing the lives of men apart, 
In order that strife could the sooner cease, 
And brothers the better could dwell in peace! 
There must be war, as the world now stands, 
With either the human heads or hands; 
The friends of today are the former foes, 

Men build on ruins, they still abhor; 
And Peace is the pure white lily that grows 

Far up through the blood-slimed waves of war. 
E'en then does the stress of striving stay: 
For Peace itself is a fight per day. 

The flower would crumble bit by bit 
But for the strifes that are stored in it — 
Where forces are fighting face to face, 
That each have the upper power and place. 
A striving on earth we always see, 
Where something that is not, is to be; 
And ere the conflict is surely o'er, 
Much that has been, is to be no more. 

There was war in Heaven, from the Bible we find, 
In which the devil came out bchjnd: 
There is war on earth, in which 'tis said 
The devil at times comes out ahead : 



[ 49 ] 

Though yet he is ever too slow or fast, 

And always loses the game at last. 

Of course, some day, when the skies are fair, 

We'll strike the Millennium straight and square: 

And then, perhaps, with its pain and gore, 

Will war be banished forevermore. 

Let's toil that that day upon us smile! 

And keep our army in shape meanwhile; 

Let's pray that the good time draw more near! 

And build us new warships every year. 

Let's struggle that peace the world shall know, 

If armies must fight to make it so! 

When nations flout us and turn to foes, 

And linger on Uncle Samuel's toes, 

Let's read the doctrine that Christ e're taught — 

For which he suffered and wept — and fought! 

But if they won't have it, then, sad to tell, 

Having offered them Heaven, we'll give them a spell. 

The best there is in the shop— and see 
That that's of the sort that it ought to be. 
Let's toil, when conventions o'er and o'er 
Decide that "men shall learn war no more," 
That sturdy armies stand still in view 
To make those sweetest of words come true! 
The valley is sheltered by mountain-rocks: 

Strong arms are the safeguards of affection: 
We build 'gainst cyclone and earthquake shocks, 

And peace is not peace, without protection. 

So mid the mountain's weird storms and dreams, 

And near the murmurs of silver streams, 

Transferred from schools where peace was might, 

And where a felony 'twas to fight, 

He came to an industry then as now 

That made boys fighters and taught them how 

To live with this precept within their ken : 

Men may be fighters and still be men. 

He paced that town, in his callow age, 

As tigers roam in their narrow cage; 



[50] 

Made mischief, maybe?— well, God employs 

His own quaint ways, to develop boys; 

Broke rules? — 'tis a part of the lore of school: 

The breaking of rules oft proves the rule. 

But still, much manliness helped him through — 

For God had work for the boy to do. 

Yes, God had work for the boy to do, 

Though strange it would seem that the King of Love 
Made shedding of blood: but our Maker knew 

Unmakings that furthered his plans above. 
Howe'er with theories we may hedge, 
No nation can glitter without an edge; 
And thousands at times the sword must rive 
In order that millions may live and thrive. 
Was not the boy soldier in God's sight, 
Through Bull Run's mad tumultuous flight? 
While cast in slumber's merciful chains, 
Amid the pelt of the midnight rains, 
May not the angels have bivouacked there, 
And torn from his heart the word despair? 
Grieved not the devils, that day he swore 
The glass that murders to drain no more? 
Smiled not the angels when one bright day 

He linked his life with a gentler one, 
That guided and cheered him all the way, 

And glorified every duty done? 
Were angels of grace not with him still, 
When mocking at death on Malvern Hill? 
Or when, perchance, by a danger braved, 
The Battle of Gettysburg was saved? 
Or when by the Rappahannock's banks, 
Through thousands of foes, in serried ranks 
He lashed his wondering horse to foam, 
And shouted, "Come on boys! Bound for home!" 
And baffling the foemen o'er and o'er, 
He hewed his way to his friends once more; 
Or when through village and city and farm 
He raided as Sheridan's strong right arm, 
Or when, in detail's drudgery-coil, 



[51] 

He harnessed to uncongenial toil; 
Or when the endangered flag he tore 
From its staff, and next to his brave heart wore; 
Or when on the glittering Woodstock plain, 
He spurred his horse with a slackened rein, 
'Twixt two belligerent armies there, 
Uncovered the depths of his yellow hair, 
And waved his old chum a greeting- palm, 
As General Wolfe to his friend Montcalm, 
And seemed to say, ere the fight began, 
"Give death to me if you dare and can!" 
Half-circled the foe with saber and horse, 

And as would a cyclone turned them back 
And paved with many a new-made corse, 

The field that he turned to a racing-track; 
Or when, 'neath the stars and stripes flung loose, 
The last Confederate flag of truce 
Was next to his eager gauntlet laid, 

With knowledge that soon 'twould be 
The sheath of a grand heroic blade — 

The swonl of a Robert Lee? 
A flag that the hour it was unfurled, 
Plashed glimmers of light throughout the world! 
'Mid all these hurryings to and fro, 
His turbulent life was called to know, 
With Death e'er hovering in the air, 
And he yet living — was God not there? 

The stars crept out in our Southern sky, 
Scarce dimmed in the war-cloud's gloam, 
And heroes who fought and did not die, 
Marched into the camps of home. 

And Peace once more with her gentle hand, 
Was striving to soothe the death-strewn land: 
But far in the west a cloud arose — 
The wrath of our ancient Indian foes. 
When born of patience too tense to last, 
The days of treaties and truce were past, 
He strove with a victory's blaze to pierce 



t 52 ] 



That cloud's portentous gloom; 
But foemen savage, numberless, fierce, 

Had measured him for his tomb. 
He stood with a heart that quailed for nought, 

In circles of flashing flame, 
And patiently waited and fiercely fought, 

For help that never came. 
No Balaklava with bugle-blast 

And banners that fluttered high, 
No brave-faced steeds went hurrying past: — 

'Twas simply a place to die. 
No Waterloo in that picture found 

Though richly with blood 'twas draped: 
Napoleon gathered his Old Guard round: 

They perished — and he escaped. 
But Custer his young guard tried and known 

Best loved and nearest of kin ; 
He could have gone — for a way was shown — 

But that he would call a sin. 
He stayed with them to the utmost hour, 

In letters of blood he wrote his name — 
His saber fell with its final power, 

And Custer died into deathless fame. 

Sometimes there comes from the realms afar, 

In untold distance, a blazing star; 

And threading the lanes of. space, it steers 

Its way mid planets and atmospheres, 

Perhaps with mystery-gifts, indeed, 

That God in His mercy knows they need; 

Then plumes itself for a farther flight, 

And vanishes far from human sight, 

We deeming, with what we wish and learn, 

That with some future it will return: 

And so we will hope, believe, and pray, 

That Custer's soul is with us today. 



(Copyright 1910 by Will Carleton.) 



GOV. FRED M. WARNER 



Presentation Address 

By Fred M. Warner 
Governor of Michigan 

Mr. Kirchner: The statue being the gift of 
the people of the state of Michigan, it is proper that 
they should be heard from through their governor. 
I have the honor of presenting to you the Honorable 
Fred M. Warner, your chief executive. 

Governor Warner: Mr. President, Mrs. Cus- 
ter, Mr. Chairman, Veterans of the Custer Brigade, 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 

In the discharge of my duties as chief executive 
of this great state, covering a period of five and 
one-half years, I have been called upon to represent 
the people of Michigan on many occasions commem- 
orative of events of widely differing import and 
significance. On none of these occasions, I may 
truthfully say, have I experienced the emotions 
which possess me at this time. 

It is a very great pleasure and a most distin- 
guished honor to be permitted to greet and welcome, 
in the name of all the people of the Peninsular state, 
the chief executive of the nation, the gentle and 
much beloved widow of one of the greatest soldiers 
this country has ever known — a hero of heroes — and 
those brave men, now whitened for the reaper, who 
unhesitatingly followed their gallant leader into the 
very jaws of death on many a battlefield. 

The loyal and hospitable citizens of Michigan 
welcome you all at this time, and beg to assure you 



[54] 

that they are fully mindful and keenly appreciative 
of the honor you have done them in gathering with 
them here to do honor to the memory of an intrepid 
soldier and to share with them the pleasure of 
dedicating this day a statue which shall have a 
sanctifying influence upon those now living and be 
a sacred inspiration to generations yet unborn. 

Throughout the ages the people of all climes 
and of all countries have done honor to those of their 
number who, whether upon the field of battle or in 
the more quiet and peaceful walks of life, have 
rendered conspicuous service to their country and 
their fellowmen. 

The names, the forms, and the services of these 
heroes have been preserved in enduring form so 
that those who come after them might be imbued 
with love of home and country and inspired to deeds 
of valor and of sacrifice. 

It is well that we erect these statues and monu- 
ments and that the deeds of these heroes of ours 
are recounted in story and in song, for thus are our 
youth made to know that the people are not ungrate- 
ful, but rather hold in fond and lasting remembrance 
and reverence those who strive and sacrifice for the 
betterment of humanity and the preservation of 
the nation. Thus are our youth inspired to lives of 
rectitude and honorable service to mankind. 

The distinguished statesmen and soldiers who 
have come here today to honor the gallant Custer 
will do full justice to his most enviable career as 
a citizen and a soldier, and to his services in behalf 
of his country and his fellowmen. 

It remains for me merely to present this imposing 
statue as the gift of the grateful people of Michigan, 



[ 55 ] 

not to the City of Monroe, nor to the state or the 
nation. 

The state of Michigan, Mr. Mayor, leaves this 
statue in this beautiful and historic city, — a city 
which has given much to the world in the shape of 
great men and noble women — knowing that its 
patriotic and grateful people will guard and keep 
it with zealous love and care throughout all the years 
that are to come, but it presents it to the world and 
all mankind in the confident hope and belief that 
whoever looks upon it, whether he comes from the 
homes of this city or from the uttermost habitations 
of the earth, will be ennobled and inspired with 
greater love of home, of country, and of humanity 
as he contemplates the unselfish and invaluable 
services of Major General George Armstrong Custer. 



HON. JACOB MARTIN 



Speech of Hon. Jacob Martin 

Mayor of Monroe 

Mr. Kirchner: The statue having been com- 
mitted to the care and keeping of the City of Monroe, 
I venture to call upon the mayor, Hon. Jacob Mar- 
tin, to speak for her. 

Mayor Martin: Mr. President, Mrs. Custer, 
Your Excellency, gentlemen of the monument com- 
mission, and members of the legislature: 

To you and each of you, who have made this 
moment in the history of Monroe possible, I desire 
most earnestly and gratefully, in behalf of the com- 
munity I represent, to express to you my and their 
thanks for what you and each of you have done to 
bring about this gratifying result. 

It has been nearly fifty years since the man whom 
this statue represents, then in the very earliest years 
of his manhood, but little more than a boy in fact, 
left the schoolroom at West Point and plunged into 
the midst of the stirring scenes of the civil war. What 
he did there, the honors he won, the bravery he 
showed, the victories he achieved, how the boy 
blossomed into the man, and the man into the hero, 
others, who were with him during those stirring 
times, and who fought with him and under him 
and who were a part of the scenes they described, 
have told you today. 

It has been within a few days of thirty-four 
years since that brave and heroic life was snuffed 



[58] 

out on the hill-top in the wilderness near the Little 
Big Horn river, where the leader and four members 
of his family all went down in one swift death in a 
scene which must have struck terror to the bravest 
heart, when thousands of painted and hideous 
savages swept screaming over the little band and 
wiped them out of existence. But, when a month 
afterward the bodies were found, it was seen that he 
who had so bravely lived, knew how to die as bravely. 
Almost a generation of men has passed since that 
summer Sunday morning, and all of those who closed 
their eyes to the glad sun on that beautiful day have 
moulded into dust, but the deed they did, the lessons 
of their sacrifice, the lives they gave in their country's 
cause, have not died, but have grown brighter as 
the years have gone by, and this monument which 
marks the fame of their leader, is simply an expres- 
sion of the feeling of this city, state and nation in 
whose behalf that sacrifice was made. 

The little community which, during the years 
of his manhood, — and they were less than twenty, 
for he died before he was forty years of age — which 
was his home, has never failed in reverence and 
honor to his name; the state from which he went 
to the battlefield and which shared in the glory of 
his deeds, and the nation of whose history those 
deeds are an undying part, have joined on this occa- 
sion to render honor to the man whose fame grows 
brighter and brighter as the years go by. We, of 
his home town, are deeply grateful to you, gentle- 
men of the legislature, whose patriotic action has 
rendered possible this beautiful and everlasting 
specimen of the sculptor's art; to you, governor of 
the great state of Michigan, who, in fitting and well- 



[59] 

chosen words, has committed it to our keeping; and 
to you, honored president of a mighty and progres- 
sive nation, who have turned aside for a brief hour 
from the weighty cares of your station to honor this 
most beautiful little city of the land with your 
presence here today, to lay the wreath of the nation's 
tribute to the memory of our honored dead. To one 
and all our deepest thanks are due, and I hereby 
extend them. 

Gentlemen of the state and nation, the city of 
Monroe accepts your gift. Dedicated to the memory 
of our cherished dead by the act of the statesmen, 
the art of the sculptor, the song of the poet, the 
glowing words of the orator and the blessing of our 
president, it shall be to us a sacred and enduring 
trust, not for a day, a year, a generation, but for all 
time. Its loving care, its safe preservation, in its 
present beautiful condition, shall be the cheerful 
duty, well performed, of the city for all the years to 
come. 

For the past we thank you, for the future we 
assure you that, your duty done, ours begins; and 
in it we shall not fail nor falter. And, sometime in 
the far distant years of the future, when we and our 
children and, perhaps, our children's children, shall 
have passed away from the scenes of earth, there 
shall gather about this spot a generation yet unborn 
and shall ask us and our successors of our trust, our 
descendants shall point to this beautiful statue, 
then still beautiful, still unimpaired, still standing 
a worthy and noble memento of the glorious dead, 
and shall say, "These, our forefathers, have well 
honored and well preserved this memorial of the 
imperishable memory of Custer." 



[60] 

(At this point a hush fell upon the vast throng, the 
band played "America," and the chorus of seventy- 
five young ladies sang the impressive chorus "The 
Old Brigade," a tribute arranged by the program 
committee in honor of the veterans of the Michigan 
cavalry brigade who stood with bowed heads, and 
distinguished by their red neckties. Many shed tears 
as the pathetic strains of the appropriate hymn 
recalled the days, long gone by, when they rode with 
Custer in Virginia. 

The special train which was to bear President 
Taft and his party to Jackson, crept slowly through 
the crowd, and halted just west of the statue. Two 
lines of uniformed troops stood at a "present" as 
the President left the stand and boarded his train.) 



MR. 
MR. 



LEE 
HILL 




MR \VM (i LEE 



MR I Ih s \V mi. I. 



Decorating the Statue 

While "The Old Brigade" was being sung, 
Mr. William O. Lee, President, and Mr. Thomas W. 
Hill, Secretary of the Michigan Cavalry Brigade 
Association, placed wreaths of laurel at the base of 
the statue. 



Mr. Kirchner: In the absence of Bishop Wil- 
liams, the Reverend Charles O'Meara will now 
pronounce the benediction. 



REV. CHAS. O'MEARA 



The Benediction 

By Reverend Charles O'Meara 

May the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and 
the love of God, and the fellowship and communion 
of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever. 
Amen. 



GEN. WILLIAM T. McGURRIN 



The Parade 

One of the most interesting features of the 
parade was the large number of veterans of the old 
brigade — most of them with white heads, and with 
faces furrowed with the seams of years — who ap- 
peared in it. 

There were something like four hundred survivors 
of the four regiments, and they were most hospitably 
entertained by the good people of Monroe, who 
took them into their homes and cared for them like 
brothers. They were asigned places of honor in the 
march, and at the right of the statue during the cere- 
monies. Many of them had not met before since the 
war and, alas! for many of them this was the last 
meeting. 

Following is the order for the parade, issued by 
Grand Marshal William T. McGurrin, Adjutant 
General of Michigan. 

Orders No. 5. 

1. The line of march of the parade incident to 
the unveiling of the Custer monument at Monroe, 
Michigan, June 4, 1910, will be from the railroad 
station, corner First and Kentucky avenues (Lake 
Shore Railway), and will proceed as follows: 

Westerly on First street to Washington avenue, 
northerly on Washington avenue on Front, westerly 
on Front to Monroe, northerly across the Monroe 
street bridge to Elm avenue, westerly on Elm to east 
entrance of St. Mary's academy. After the exer- 
cises at St. Mary's academy, the procession moves 



[G6] 

out of west entrance of academy, thence easterly 
on Elm avenue to North Macomb, southerly on 
North. 

2. The elements of the parade will form as 
follows: 

First battalion 26th infantry, U. S. A., with the 
26th infantry band, Captain George E. Houle, 
commanding, on First street, facing southerly, right 
resting at Macomb street. 

First and Third battalions and band, First 
infantry, M. N. G., Colonel John P. Kirk, command- 
ing, upon the left of the 26th infantry battalion. 

Monroe Camp of the Spanish War veterans, 
Captain William Luft, commanding, upon the left of 
the 3rd battalion, First infantry, M. N. G. 

Custer's Cavalry Brigade association, William 
O. Lee, commanding, on First street, facing northerly, 
right resting near Kentucky avenue facing the rail- 
road station. 

Drill corps, National Veterans, Women's society 
of Toledo, on the left of the Custer's Cavalry Brigade 
association. 

Posts of the G. A. R. upon the left of the Ladies' 
drill corps. 

Other organizations and bands will be assigned 
positions upon their commanding officers or repre- 
sentatives reporting at the Grand Marshal's head- 
quarters, Park hotel, Monroe. 

As the last automobile following that of the 
President of the United States passes the Custer 
Cavalry Brigade, the brigade will follow it in column 
of fours, after it will follow the Ladies' drill corps, 
and the posts of the Grand Army of the Republic. 



[67] 

Upon reaching Macomb street, the President's 
escort will follow the route indicated in paragraph 
1 of this order. The Custer Cavalry Brigade, the 
Ladies' drill corps and the posts of the Grand Army 
of the Republic will without halting turn southerly 
on the sidewalks at Macomb street to Second, and 
westerly on Second street to Monroe (the old 
Custer residence). At this point the Custer Cavalry 
Brigade association will mass upon the westerly side 
of the street in front of the Custer residence, the 
posts of the G. A. R. and the Ladies' drill corps 
massing upon their left, and there await the arrival 
of the presidential party. These organizations will, 
as far as possible, mass upon the sidewalk and 
grounds in rear, leaving the street clear. 

3. After the President has reviewed the proces- 
sion from the point opposite the Custer Cavalry Bri- 
gade association, and all automobiles have cleared 
the streets, the Custer Cavalry Brigade association 
will proceed to the space reserved for it upon the 
right of the speaker's stand, proceeding thereto via 
Second street, thence northerly on Washington 
street, followed by the posts of the G. A. R. and the 
Ladies' drill corps. 

Upon arrival at the Custer statue, the following 
troops in the procession will take post as follows: 

The First battalion 26th infantry, U. S. A., in 
mass on First street westerly from the statue, facing 
easterly, closing First street at that point. 

The First battalion, 1st infantry, M. N. G., in 
mass northerly from the statue, facing southerly, 
closing Washington street at that point. 

The Third battalion, 1st infantry, M. N. G., in 



[68] 

mass, easterly from the statue, facing westerly, 
closing First street at that point. 

The Spanish war veterans will take post in the 
rear of the last-named battalion. 

These positions will be maintained until the 
President arrives, and takes his place upon the 
speaker's stand, when the respective battalion com- 
manders will exercise their best judgment in moving 
forward towards the statue, their flanks connecting, 
for the better accommodation of the spectators in 
their rear. 

4. It is anticipated that the President will enter 
and leave the speaker's stand by way of Second and 
Washington streets, which latter street will be closed 
from Second street to the speaker's stand, from 
the general public, first by a detachment of Company 
"D", First infantry, M, N. G., and, secondly, by 
the President's escort, Troop "B" cavalry, M. N. (i., 
the respective organization commanders being charg- 
ed with the execution of this order. 

5. Company "D," First infantry, Al. X. C, is 
hereby detailed as a guard about the monument and 
speakers' stand, and will keep the spaces mentioned 
in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this order clear until the 
arrival of the troops which are directed to subsequent- 
ly take charge of them. 

6. All organizations will be in position as in- 
dicated in paragraph 2 promptly and not later than 
8:30 A. M. 

By order of the Grand Marshal, 
Ben. H. Dorcey, 
Captain, U. S. A., retired, 
Adjutant General and Chief of Staff. 



GEN. JAMES H. KIDD 



George Armstrong Custer 



A Historical Sketch 



By J. II. Kidd 



To write an appreciative and just account of the 
life and military services of General Custer is a task 
that would tax the resources of the most gifted writer 
or student. To do even scant justice to the theme 
is more than the author of this brief sketch may 
hope to accomplish. If, to the chance reader, his 
effort shall appear to be rather the plea of an advo- 
cate or the tribute of a friend, than the cold, dis- 
passionate narrative of the historical annalist, it 
will be the fault of the point of view of the critic; 
and it will not be due to any want of historical 
accuracy on the part of the reviewer. 

"Time at length sets all things even" and the 
sunlight of time, shining through the mists of the 
years, at last, we venture to hope, has cleared away 
the clouds of doubt, not to say distrust — some of them 
the manifestation of misinformation, some of malev- 
olence — which for many years after his death 
obscured his fame. 

Scarce forty years have passed — but a span, as 
time is measured on the dial-plate of history — and 
how plain those things appear that then were seen 
as "through a glass darkly." His figure, from this 



[70] 

time on, will stand out on the page of history, 
distinct as a piece of sculpture on the facade of a 
temple of art; flawless as the noble equestrian statue 
erected to symbolize his heroism and his virtues. 
The glamour of poetry, the winged word of the orator, 
the affluent thought and lucid diction of the historian, 
must all needs be at their best to adequately portray 
his genius as a soldier, his noble and lovable qualities 
as a man. In the language of an army officer, who 
is also a competent military critic* — too high 
minded and generous to be warped by prejudice or 
professional jealousy — General Custer as a cavalry 
officer was "in a class by himself." 

No higher tribute can be paid. It fully justifies 
the opinion often expressed by the writer that 
George Armstrong Custer was the foremost cavalry 
officer of his time, not excepting any, federal or 
confederate. His fame is the common heritage of 
all patriots of the reunited republic, and deserves 
to be jealously treasured and perpetuated. His 
last battle, notwithstanding all that has been said 
about it, was the crowning glory of a life full of 
exploits; for it marked him as an officer who, at the 
end as he had been at the beginning, was wholly 
devoted to his duty; who never hesitated in his 
obedience to orders, even when such obedience led, 
as it did, to inevitable death. 

He was a man, take him for all in all, "whose 
like we shall not see again," a veritable Chevalier 
Bayard, absolutely "without fear and without 
reproach;" like Sir Philip Sidney, a gentleman and a 



*General T. F. Rodenbough, brigadier general, U. S. Army, 
retired, secretary military service institution, Governor's Island, X. V., 
editor of the "Journal", formerly commanding Second U. S. cavalry, 
Reserve brigade, First Division, Cavalry corps. Army of the Potomac. 



ni ] 

knight whose accomplishments were many and who 
was an ornament to the profession of arms of which 
he was a most consummate master. 

In the final analysis, we may truthfully say of 
him that w r hat Seydlitz was to Frederick the Great; 
what Prince Rupert was to Charles Stuart; what 
Joachim Murat was to Napoleon Bonaparte; what 
James E. B. Stuart was to Robert E. Lee; what Sher- 
idan himself was to Ulysses S. Grant; such was 
Custer to Philip H. Sheridan; his right arm in battle, 
an ever present help in trouble. This his loyal 
friends have maintained always; this much his rivals 
now concede. Even in the regular army, the truth 
has prevailed. Rivalry has ceased to decry; envy 
no longer detracts. The impartial historian will 
place him in the temple of fame in the niche where 
he by right belongs, and in the acclaim no voices 
will join more heartily than those of the officers 
of the United States army. They will point with 
pride to his record, which will animate them to the 
full measure of their duty, as that of a soldier who 
was the type of all that an American cavalry officer 
should be or can be. 

George Armstrong Custer was born December 
5, 1839. He died June 25, 1876. His birthplace 
was New Rumley, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania 
line. The scene where his death befell was in far 
away Montana, by the banks of the "Greasy Grass," 
the Indian name for the Little Big Horn River. His 
ashes rest at West Point on the Hudson, the site of 
the military school where he was taught the art of 
war and trained in the profession of arms; and where 
so many officers were educated who brought distinc- 
tion to the name of American soldier. 



t ™ ] 

His origin was humble. The place where he 
first saw the light is so obscure as hardly to merit 
mention on the map. His father was a blacksmith 
who left the shop in Pennsylvania to become a 
small farmer in Ohio, and brought his forge with 
him. His ancestry, on his father's side, is traced 
back to Maryland, and to colonial times, but there 
is good reason to take with a grain of salt the state- 
ment of one of his biographers that his great grand- 
father was an officer of King George the Third's 
Hessian mercenaries. He may have been of German 
descent, but the strain of martial blood that ran in 
the veins of himself and his brother "Tom," is 
suggestive of the fiery Celt or the mercurial Frank 
rather than of the phlegmatic Teuton. 

His mother was his father's second wife and a 
widow when she married him. General Custer 
was the eldest of the children born to the union of 
Emmanuel Custer and the widow Kirkpatrick. 
These parents, though poor, came of sturdy and self- 
reliant stock; were well-principled and fond of 
their children. His education was the best that the 
schools of the section afforded. That he made the 
best use of his opportunities is quite certain. His 
alertness of mind and vigor of body enabled him 
to be easily a leader among the boys of his age, both 
in his studies and in athletics. With a wiry frame, 
a strong constitution, and perfect health, he was a 
natural leader of boys as in after years he became 
a leader of men. He was born to leadership. 

From the time he was ten years of age until he 
was sixteen Custer lived alternately in New Rumley 
and in Monroe, Michigan. His parents remained on 
the old farm, but a half-sister, who had married a 



[73 ] 

man named Reed from Monroe went there to live 
and took her young brother with her. The associa- 
tions and educational advantages of that historical, 
old town were of great benefit to him. He worked 
on his father's farm summers, attended school in 
Monroe winters, and at the last, did what many 
other noted men have done, earned his first money by 
teaching school. 

Armstrong Custer was not a plodding student, 
but quick to learn. His brother, Nevin, relates 
that he used to lie in the furrow and study during 
the noon hour when others were resting. There is 
no doubt that he was ambitious and dreamed 
dreams, as other bright boys have done. His 
father was a militia officer, and the story of the 
martial exploits of the officers of the United States 
army in Mexico— of Palo Alto, of Cerro Gordo and 
Chapultepec — inflamed the imagination of the 
youthful student and filled him with the desire to 
emulate their heroic deeds. He seems to have had 
an inspiration, sort of a prophetic intuition, that 
led him to make application for a cadetship at 
West Point. That was in 1856, when he was but 
sixteen years old. It was the year that the repub- 
lican party presented its first ticket — Fremont and 
Dayton — for president and vice president. John A. 
Bingham had been chosen to congress as a republi- 
can in 1854, from the district in which New Rumley 
was situated. He was re-elected in 1856. It was 
to him that young Custer applied for an appoint- 
ment. The elder Custer was a democrat, a "Jack- 
sonian" democrat, and remained such all his life. 
His sons were trained in that political faith. So 
far as he had anything to do with politics, there is 



[ 74 ] 

reason to believe that Armstrong Custer was true 
to the political principles of his father, Emmanuel 
Custer. Indeed, the old gentleman averred with 
much emphasis when asked if the general was not 
a democrat — 

"Of course he was a democrat. My boys were 
all democrats. I would not raise any other kind." 

It is not strange, therefore, that the father gave 
the son no encouragement when he proposed to ask 
Congressman Bingham for a cadetship. He did 
not believe that a republican congressman would 
thus favor the son of a democrat of the Emmanuel 
Custer stripe. 

But the future major general of division was 
not to be deterred by that or any other trifling 
obstacles from making the effort. With the faith 
in himself which he ever afterwards displayed, in 
May, 1856, he wrote to Mr. Bingham a most frank 
and manly letter asking him for the appointment, 
expressing the belief that he could meet the re- 
quirements and offering to furnish certificates of 
good moral character. But another had the call 
that year, and the next year he went to Mr. Bingham 
in person and made an impression so favorable 
upon the mind of the congressman that he won his 
heart and confidence at once, and received the 
appointment. 

In this way it came about that in June, 1857, 
Custer entered the West Point Military academy, 
the protege of Hon. John A. Bingham, afterwards 
minister to Japan, who was thus instrumental in 
starting on his military course one of the real heroes 
of the nation. 

The career of Cadet Custer in West Point was 



[ -5 ] 

not a remarkable one. In point of scholarship he 
just managed to keep within the breastworks. Like 
Ulysses S. Grant, he did not stand anywhere near 
the head of his class. Like Grant, he was a splen- 
did horseman and well liked. He said himself 
that in a class numbering thirty-five members, 
who were graduated, he was thirty-fourth. This 
was from no lack of ability, for he mastered his 
studies with the greatest ease, but because he was 
so full of exuberant animal spirits, of fun and frolic, 
that he was continually getting demerit marks for 
some venial infraction of the rules of conduct and 
discipline. He was a favorite and won the hearts 
of all by his good nature, his manliness and high 
sense of honor; all of which, however, did not keep 
him out of mischief; or prevent his paying the 
penalty for derelictions, in loss of class standing 
and the privileges that fell to "prize" cadets. 

Custer's notification of his appointment came 
from Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War in 
Buchanan's cabinet; the commandant of the acad- 
emy was John F. Reynolds, afterwards major 
general of volunteers and killed at Gettysburg. 
One of his instructors was Fitzhugh Lee. In the 
corps of cadets were many young men of the south, 
two of whom, Thomas L. Rosser, of Virginia, and 
P. M. B. Young, of Georgia, became major generals 
of confederate cavalry; with whom Custer crossed 
swords on many battle fields. 

When the time came for the class to be gradu- 
ated, June, 1861, and the cadets assigned to the 
various branches of the military service, war had 
broken out between the states, a southern con- 
federacy had been formed, and two armies — one 



[76] 

for the Union, the other against it — were assembling 
in Virginia to submit the question of union or dis- 
union to the arbitrament of arms. The southerners 
went home to their several states and cast in their 
lots with the confederacy. The northern boys 
eagerly sought service in the armies of the United 
States to fight for the union under the stars and 
stripes. Among these last, none were more patriotic 
and enthusiastic than was young Custer. But his 
career came near being nipped in the bud, through 
one of those characteristic breaches of discipline 
just on the eve of graduation. He was an officer 
of the guard, when the order from Washington 
designating the cadets as officers of the army was 
hourly expected. The way in which the impulses 
of the boy overcame the official obligation of the 
officer of the guard, during his tour of duty in that 
position, is best described in his own language: 

"Just at dark I heard a commotion near the 
guard tents. Hastening to the scene, I found two 
cadets engaged in a dispute which threatened to 
result in blows. A group of cadets had formed 
about the two bellicose disputants. I had hardly 
time to take in the situation, when the two disputants 
began belaboring each other with their fists. Some 
of their more prudent friends rushed in and sought 
to separate the two antagonists. My duty was plain. 
I should have arrested the combatants and sent them 
to the guardhouse for violating the peace and regula- 
tions of the academy. But the instincts of the boy 
prevailed over the obligations of the officer. I 
pushed my way through the line of cadets, dashed 
back those who were interfering with the struggle 



and called out: 'Stand back, boys, let's have a fair 
fight."* 

The result of this breach of duty was that Cadet 
Custer was sent to his tent in arrest, charges were 
preferred, and sent on to Washington. A court 
martial was convened to try him on the charges and, 
when his classmates went to Washington for assign- 
ment as officers of the army, he was left behind in 
arrest, awaiting the outcome of the court martial's 
findings, which were promptly forwarded to the war 
department. 

But when his classmates arrived in Washington, 
they interceded for him. The government was in 
sore need of educated officers, and a telegraphic order 
was sent for his release and directing him to report 
to the war department, forthwith, for assignment to 
duty. 

It will be necessary, owing to the limitations of 
space, to pass rapidly over the life of Custer as a 
subaltern in the regular army. He arrived in 
Washington July 20, 1861, and reporting to General 
Scott, was ordered to join his troop of the Second 
United States cavalry on duty with General McDow- 
ell's army, at the front. General Scott also entrusted 
him with important despatches to General McDowell 
— a most auspicious beginning for a youngster just 
out of West Point. With much difficult)' he suc- 
ceeded in reaching the front and delivered the 
despatches. He joined and with the rank of 
second lieutenant was engaged with his troop 
at Bull Run, the first battle of the war. That was 
July 21, just one day after his arrival in Washington. 
Thus, there was no interval between the time of 



[78] 

reporting for duty and the beginning of his active 
service in the field; and that service was practically 
continuous not only till the surrender at Appomat- 
tox, but until the day of his death, June 25, 1876 — 
barely fifteen years almost to a day — yet how full of 
heroism and achievement was that short period in 
an American army officer's life. 

Custer was at that time but little more than 
twenty-one years of age. There was an indefinable 
something about his personality that attracted the 
attention of his superiors in years and rank. His 
courage was conspicuous, and from the first, oppor- 
tunity came his way, and the phrase, "Custer's 
luck" was often on his own lips; but the secret of his 
phenomenal rise as a cavalry officer must be sought 
elsewhere than in mere luck. He was resolute, 
alert, and ambitious. He possessed a certain pre- 
science or intuition which pointed out the way and 
taught him what to do and when to do it. What- 
ever was given him to do, whether in high or low 
station, he did with all his might. His motto 
seemed to be, "Make myself as useful as possible 
in the performance of every duty." In this he 
succeeded so well that his superiors found they could 
not well get along without him. 

Soon after the battle of Bull Run, Custer received 
a detail as aide-de-camp to General Philip Kearny, 
one of the ablest and most picturesque officers of 
the civil war. Straightway, he was designated as 
assistant adjutant general of the brigade. He made 
good, as he never failed to do, won the confidence of 
his chief, and remained on Kearny's staff until the 
war department ruled that regular army officers 



[79] 

could no longer be permitted to serve on the staffs of 
generals of volunteers. 

In the spring of 1862, Custer was transferred 
from the Second to the Fifth United States cavalry 
without increased rank. In the Peninsular campaign 
he was selected as an engineer officer at the head- 
quarters of General W. F. ("Baldy") Smith. He 
was mentioned for gallantry in a report of General 
W. S. Hancock; was especially commended for zeal- 
ous and brave conduct by General Barnard, chief 
engineer of the Army of the Potomac; and finally, 
a characteristic exploit brought him to the favorable 
notice of General George B. McClellan who, as a 
reward, appointed him on his staff with the rank of 
captain. Thus, in less than a year from graduation, 
he found himself a trusted member of the staff of 
the commander-in-chief of the army. His commis- 
sion as captain was signed by President Lincoln and 
forwarded to him by Secretary of War, Edwin M. 
Stanton. It was dated June 5, 1SG2. He served in 
this capacity during the seven days battles; through 
the Antietam campaign and until the retirement of 
"Little Mac" from the command; signalizing his 
service by frequent deeds of daring that brought 
him more and more into favorable attention. And 
Custer was then a boy of twenty-two. During the 
winter of 18G2-63 he was with his chief in retirement ; 
assisting the latter in the work of making his volum- 
inous report of the operations of the army while 
under his command. In the spring of 1863 he was 
ordered back to his regiment, the Fifth Cavalry, 
then on duty with Burnside near Falmouth. Cap- 
tain Custer was once more Lieutenant Custer, 



[ 80 ] 

though the former title stuck to him and he was 
spoken of always as "Captain Custer." 

During that year it became known that two 
regiments of cavalry, the Sixth and Seventh, were to 
be raised in Michigan and Captain Custer applied 
to Governor Blair for the colonelcy of one of them. 
His application was refused and he had to be content 
with his lower rank. He did not remain long with 
his regiment, for he was detailed successively as 
aide-de-camp on the staff of General Buford, chief 
of the first cavalry division, and of General Pleason- 
ton, chief of cavalry. With the latter, as with 
Kearny and McClellan, he was a great favorite. 
He had tact, energy, intuition, the ability to grasp 
the elusive opportunity, courage of the highest 
type and, in every engagement, he was in the very 
forefront. In the battle of Aldie, though but a 
lieutenant, he rode side by side with Colonel Kil- 
patrick, commander of a brigade, and Colonel 
Douty, of the First Maine cavalry, in leading a 
successful charge against Stuart's confederate troop- 
ers. Douty was killed and Kilpatrick wounded. 
Custer came out without a scratch. It may be 
surmised that Pleasonton made a note of the gallant 
conduct of his young aide and, as a matter of fact, 
in that very month, Custer, upon Pleasonton's 
recommendation, was promoted from lieutenant 
in the Fifth cavalry to brigadier general of volun- 
teers. His commission was dated June 29, 1863. 
He was assigned to command the Second brigade, 
Third division of the cavalry corps. Kilpatrick 
was at the same time made general of division. 
Elon J. Farnsworth, of the Eighth Illinois cavalry, 



[81] 

received his star on the same day and was placed 
in command of the First brigade. 

The Michigan cavalry brigade (Second brigade, 
Third division) consisted of four regiments — the 
First, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh. The First went 
out in 1861 under Colonel T. F. Brodhead, a veteran 
of the Mexican war, who was killed in the second 
battle of Bull Run. The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh 
were organized a year later and had been serving 
in the department of Washington. The brigade 
only recently had been organized and was on duty 
in Fairfax county, Virginia, when Hooker began his 
march into Maryland to head off the army of North- 
ern Virginia under Lee, which had begun an inva- 
sion of the north similar to that which ended so 
disastrously to him and his army at the battle of 
Antietam in 1862. The Michigan regiments left 
Fairfax courthouse and, crossing the Potomac river 
at Edwards ferry, marched via Poolesville, Fred- 
erick, and Emmittsburg to Gettysburg, arriving in 
that town — destined so soon to give its name to 
one of the greatest battles of history — on Sunday, 
June 28, 1863. Thence they were concentrated 
at Hanover, a few miles southeast of Gettysburg, 
as a part of the force sent under Kilpatrick to inter- 
cept the march of Stuart's cavalry which was grop- 
ing its way, three brigades strong, in search of 
Lee's army, from which it had been separated since 
the beginning of the campaign. Coming succes- 
sively into the little village of Hanover, under the 
command of their respective colonels, they were 
dismounted to fight on foot, and deploying into 
line, facing the southeast, advanced through some 



[82] 

wheat fields towards the heights whereon were posted 
Stuart's brigades under Hampton, Chambliss and 
Fitzhugh Lee. The Michigan men, with the excep- 
tion of the First cavalry, never had been under fire. 
It was their first battle. Suddenly there appeared 
upon the scene a picturesque figure whom none of 
them ever had seen. This was the young brigadier 
general just twenty-three years and six months old, 
who had worn his star but two days. He was a 
stranger to them; they were strangers to him. 

Instantly order began to come out of the disorder 
that had prevailed for several hours. He gave his 
orders in clear, resonant tones, at once resolute and 
reassuring. At first he was thought to be a staff 
officer conveying the commands of his chief, but in 
a very short time it became apparent that he himself 
was the commander. It will not be amiss to give 
here a pen sketch of him as he appeared to an officer 
just three months his junior in years who happened 
to be in command of a troop upon the very part ol 
the line where he was.* 

"Looking at him closely this is what I saw: 
An officer superbly mounted who sat his charger 
as if 'to the manor born.' Tall, lithe, active, 
muscular, straight as an Indian and as quick in 
his movements, he had the fair complexion of a 
school girl. He was uniformed in a suit of black 
velvet, elaborately trimmed with gold lace which 
ran down the outer seams of his trousers and almost 
covered the sleeves of his cavalry jacket. The wide 
collar of a blue navy shirt with embroidered stars 
at the points, was turned over the collar of his 
velvet jacket, and a necktie of bright crimson was 

♦Personarrecollcctions of a Cavalryman, by J. H. Kidd. 



[83] 

tied in a graceful knot at the throat, the long ends 
falling carelessly in front. The double rows of 
brass buttons on his breast were arranged in groups 
of twos, indicating the rank of brigadier general. A 
soft black hat with wide brim adorned with a gilt 
cord, and a rosette encircling a silver star, was 
worn turned down on one side, giving him a rakish 
air. His golden hair fell in graceful luxuriance 
nearly or quite to his shoulders and his upper lip 
was garnished with a blonde mustache. A sword 
and belt, gilt spurs and top boots completed his 
unique outfit. 

"A keen eye would have been slow to detect in 
that rider with the flowing locks and bright necktie, 
in his dress of velvet and gold, the master spirit that 
he proved to be. That garb, fantastic as at first 
sight it appeared, was to be the distinguishing mark 
that, like the white plume of Henry of Navarre, was 
to show us where in the thickest of the fight we 
were to seek our leader — for where danger was, where 
swords were to cross, where Greek met Greek, there 
was he always. Brave, but not reckless ; self-con- 
fident, yet modest; ambitious but regulating his 
conduct at all times by a high code of honor and 
duty; eager for laurels, but scorning to wear them 
unworthily; ready and willing to act, but regardful 
of human life; quick in emergencies, cool and self- 
poised, his courage was of the highest moral and 
physical type, his perceptions were intuitions. 
Showy, like Murat, fiery like Kearny, yet calm and 
self reliant like Sheridan, he was the most brilliant 
and resourceful cavalry officer of his time. Such a 
man had appeared upon the scene and from that 
day the Michigan cavalrymen swore by Custer 
and would follow him to the death." 



[ 84 ] 

"George Armstrong Custer was undeniably the 
most picturesque figure of the civil war. Yet his 
ability and services were hardly justly appraised 
by the American people. It is doubtful if more than 
one of his superior officers — if we except Kearny, 
McClellan and Pleasonton, who knew him only as 
a subaltern — estimated him at his true value. 
Sheridan knew him for what he was. So did the 
Michigan cavalry brigade and the Third cavalry 
division. Except by these he was regarded as a 
brave and dashing but reckless officer who needed 
a stead}' hand to guide him. Among regular army 
officers he cannot be said to have been a favorite. 
The rapidity of his rise to the zenith of his fame and 
unexampled success, when so many of the youngsters 
of his years were moving in the comparative ob- 
scurity of their own orbits, irritated them. Stars 
of the first magnitude did nut appear often in the 
galaxy of heroes. Custer was one of the few." 

"The popular idea of Custer is a misconception. 
He was not a reckless commander. He was not 
regardless of human life. No man could have been 
more careful of the lives and comfort of his men. 
His heart was as tender as that of a woman. He 
was kind to his subordinates, tolerant of their 
weaknesses, ever ready to help and encourage them. 
He was as brave as a lion, fought as few men fought, 
but from no love of fighting. That was his business, 
and he knew that in that way alone peace could be 
conquered. He was brave, alert, untiring, a hero 
in battle, relentless in the pursuit of a beaten enemy, 
stubborn and full of resources in a retreat. His 
death at the battle of the Little Big Horn crowned 
his career with a tragic interest that will not wane 



[ 85 ] 

while history or tradition endure. Hundreds of 
brave men shed tears when they heard of it — men 
who had served under and learned to love him in the 
trying times of the civil war." 

The facts of that battle are now pretty well 
known and analysis of them by an unprejudiced 
mind will completely exonerate him from any blame 
whatever for that great catastrophe. 

From Hanover he led his brigade towards Gettys- 
burg and the night of July 2, after dark, had a sharp 
encounter with Hampton's cavalry at Hunterstown, 
five miles northeast of Gettysburg. Here, with 
characteristic audacity, he ordered a mounted charge 
of the advance guard— two troops of the Sixth 
Michigan cavalry under Captain H. E. Thompson— 
against the enemy dismounted and posted behind 
rail fences and led the charge in person. 

Hanover and Hunterstown were but the prelude 
to the great cavalry fight on the Rummel farm on 
the right flank at Gettysburg, Friday, July 3, 1863, 
the third day of the battle. It was that battle 
that gave great renown to the name of Custer as a 
general of brigade. It was that cavalry fight that 
saved Meade's right flank from being turned at the 
moment when Pickett made his famous assault 
upon the center on Cemetery ridge. It was that 
fight that brought fame to the Michigan brigade, all 
due to his matchless leadership and to its own 
prowess. It was that fight which but five days 
after the date of his commission, proved the wisdom 
of Custer's promotion from captain to brigadier 
general. It was that fight in which he led four 
Michigan regiments and Pennington's battery "M," 
Second IT. S. artillery, that started him on his career 



[86] 

of success — a success that was unbroken till the sun 
of the confederacy went down at Appomattox. 

All the world knows about it now. The story has 
been told by many pens. But for many years after 
the war it was scarcely heard of. In the language 
of General Charles King: "Stuart's dash far out 
on the right flank would have rung the world over 
but for the Michigan men. It was Custer and the 
Wolverines who flew like bulldogs straight at the 
throat of the foe; who blocked his headlong charge; 
who pinned him to the ground while like wolves 
their comrade troops rushed upon his flank."* 

Custer commanded the Michigan brigade from 
June 30, 1863 until September 26, 1864— a period 
of just one year, two months, and twenty-six days. 
From that time till the close of the war he command- 
ed the Third cavalry division. His old brigade did 
not go with him but remained in the First division 
under Generals Merritt and Devin. There were no 
Michigan troops in the Third division during the 
time that Custer commanded it, which was from 
September 26, 1864, until the war closed. 

The limits of this sketch will permit but a cursory 
review of Custer's career after Gettysburg. It 
would take more than a volume to tell the story in 
its entirety. He led his brigade from the Rummel 
fields through the passes of the South Mountains in 
pursuit of Lee's retreating army, harassing the enemy 
every mile of the way; he fought a midnight fight at 
Monterey; met the confederate cavalry at Smith- 
burg, at Hagerstown, at Boonesborough, at Williams- 
port, at Falling Waters, where he fought the last 
battle on northern soil in that campaign. He was 

♦Personal recollections of a Cavalryman, by J. H. Kidd. 



[ 87 ] 

constant in the pursuit of the enemy after crossing 
the Potomac river back into Virginia. He had 
sharp engagements at Amissville, at Newby's Cross- 
roads, at Raccoon, and Somerville fords, and else- 
where. He was prominent and his brigade distin- 
guished itself greatly in all these engagements; 
especially at Brandy Station, October 11, where 
all the lighting was done on horseback; and at 
Buckland .Mills, October 19, where Kilpatrick's 
division was saved from destruction by Custer's 
prudence, tactical skill and pluck, after Kilpatrick's 
rashness had led it into a trap set by Stuart and 
Fitzhugh Lee. Then he went into winter quarters 
at Stevensburg, in Culpeper county, Virginia. 
During all this period he received but one wound 
and that a slight one, though he had several horses 
shot under him. 

While at Stevensburg, in February, 1864, he 
obtained a leave of absence and going home to 
Monroe, xMichigan, was married to Miss Elizabeth 
B. Bacon, daughter of Judge Bacon of that place, 
for whom he had a romantic attachment, dating 
from his boyhood school days. The marriage proved 
a happy one. His bride returned to Stevensburg 
with him and, ever after, when the exigencies of the 
service would permit, was at his side. During all 
the years since his death she has devoted herself to 
keeping his memory green. During his life their 
home life was ideal. 

In February, 1864, Kilpatrick started on a bold 
but ill-fated expedition projected for the capture 
of Richmond and the release of the union prisoners 
confined there. Custer was taken away from his 
brigade and entrusted with the responsibility of a 



[88] 

feint around Lee's left to distract attention while 
Kilpatrick passed around his right. Custer's part 
of the plan was most successfully accomplished, 
showing how well he could meet every military 
requirement, with or without his Michigan men. 

After the return from the Kilpatrick raid Custer 
and his brigade were transferred from the Third 
to the First division, reporting in his new sphere of 
duty in April. 

In Grant's great campaign of 1864 — from the 
Wilderness, May 6, to Cold Harbor, June 1 — he 
was the bright, particular star in that constellation 
of heroes who rode with Sheridan. His intrepid 
spirit never flagged and, "where'er the bravest 
dared to be" the sabers of his Michigan cavalry were 
seen. On the left flank in the Wilderness, he met 
and vanquished Rosser, the brave southern cavalry- 
man, so completely that his dead and wounded 
were left in our hands on the field; thus warding off 
the expected flanking attack so much dreaded by 
Meade, Grant and Hancock. May 7, he aided 
Gregg in defeating those brave knights of the 
southern cause, Stuart and Fitzhugh Lee. 

He led the advance on Sheridan's great raid 
into the enemy's country, when ten thousand 
horse cut loose from the army of the Potomac and, 
in a column thirteen miles long, sought out Stuart 
and challenged him to a fight to the finish upon his 
native heath. Detached from the main column 
Custer captured Beaver Dam Station, recaptured 
several hundred union prisoners who were being 
rushed to Richmond, and destroyed an immense 
quantity of Lee's military stores, including all his 
medical supplies. 



[ 89 ] 

On the morning of May 11, at Yellow Tavern, 
six miles north of Richmond, at the critical moment 
in the battle, Custer was entrusted with the im- 
portant duty of making a mounted charge against 
the enemy strongly posted on a commanding ridge 
flanked by artillery. He penetrated the enemy's 
line with the First and Seventh Michigan mounted 
and supported by the Fifth and Sixth on foot; 
captured one of his batteries and, in the melee that 
resulted, the confederate leader, Stuart, the prince 
of southern cavaliers, was killed and his entire body 
of cavalry put to rout. The next day, May 12, 
Custer was selected by Sheridan to open the way 
across the Chickahominy, at the Meadow Bridges, 
the only gateway to safety from the somewhat 
critical position in which he found himself. The 
bridge had been destroyed and, Fitzhugh Lee, who 
succeeded Stuart, had taken up and fortified a nat- 
urally strong position on the opposite shore. 
Passing the Fifth and Sixth Michigan across on the 
ties of a railroad bridge, Custer gained a foothold, 
drove Lee's skirmishers into their breastworks, and 
rebuilt the bridge, so that Sheridan passed his 
entire force across it in safety, after Gregg had 
repulsed a menacing attack in rear, led by Jefferson 
Davis in person. 

On the return from the neighborhood around 
Richmond to the army at Chesterfield Station, 
which occupied the time until May 26, Custer was 
constantly called upon to perform special and im- 
portant sen-ice, showing that the confidence which 
he had inspired in his chief was absolute. Stopping, 
on one of these side expeditions, at a house where 
were many ladies of southern proclivities, he wrote 



[90] 

and entrusted to the care of one of them a chivalrous 
message to his friend, P. M. B. Young, a classmate 
in West Point. Young had made a prophecy at 
the mess table one day before they left the academy 
that each would be colonel of a cavalry regiment 
from his state — Custer from Michigan, Young from 
Georgia — and that they would meet in battle. The 
prophecy had been more than fulfilled. Each 
had command of a brigade and they had met more 
than once in battle. Custer told Young he wished 
that he would stay in one place long enough to be 
found; that he had been hot on his trail for many 
days but could not overtake him and bring him 
to a fight. The lady promised to deliver the 
letter and did so. After the war, the two cavalry 
officers met and were good friends, as before. 

May 27, Custer again led the advance of the 
army, in the movement across the Pamunkey into 
the country between that river and the Chickahom- 
iny. He forced the crossing at Hanovertown with 
the First Michigan, then advanced toward Hanover 
Courthouse, the Sixth Michigan leading. Soon, 
Gordon's brigade of North Carolinians under 
Barringer, Gordon having been killed, was encoun- 
tered and a hard fight ensued. Putting the First 
and Sixth Michigan into action dismounted, he 
took the Fifth and Seventh and, leading them in 
person around the flank of the force confronting 
the other regiments put it to rout, the pursuit 
taking him to Crump's Creek, several miles away. 
When he went into this charge, he set his band 
playing Yankee Doodle, which had the effect to 
put an end for the occasion to the music of the 
confederate band which had been playing Bonnie 
Blue Flag, in rear of their line. 



[91] 

The next day at Haw's Shop occurred the hard- 
est and most bloody cavalry fight of the entire war, 
numbers engaged considered. Gregg, with the Sec- 
ond division of but two brigades had been sent out 
to uncover the movements of Lee's army. He 
had advanced but a short distance beyond Haw's 
Shop when he ran into the entire confederate 
cavalry force under Wade Hampton, who had 
succeeded Stuart. Gregg was getting the worst 
of it and called for help. The Michigan brigade 
was ordered to the front as a reinforcement. Com- 
ing into the engagement from the rear and about 
opposite to Gregg's center, Custer formed the brig- 
ade, dismounted in double ranks and, riding ahead 
of the line, accompanied by a single aide, waved his 
hat over his head and called for three cheers. The 
cheers were given and he led his men in a charge 
into the woods where Butler's South Carolinians 
were just coming into action on the other side. 
Then it was face to face, and eye to eye. The 
effect of Custer's splendid courage was to inspire 
his Wolverines to more than their wonted bravery. 
In a few minutes the men from the Palmetto state 
were in headlong flight, leaving their dead and wound- 
ed. About one hundred officers and men were 
killed and wounded in the Michigan brigade and it 
all befell within a very few minutes after the charge 
into the woods. The ground was covered with 
confederate dead. The trees were riddled with 
bullets. The leaden hail, hitting the bushes and 
bark of the trees sounded like crackling glass. 
The sound of the firing was heard distinctly far 
to the rear, where Grant, Meade and Sheridan 
anxiously were awaiting the event. Custer with 



[ 92 ] 

his usual luck, escaped without a wound. His aide 
was shot in two places. He there made a record 
for personal daring and magnetic leadership unsur- 
passed on either side during the civil war. Ah, but 
he was a gallant and inspiring figure, dressed as at 
Hanover, his blonde curls flying, his red necktie 
flaming, riding his horse in front of his men on 
foot — between them and the enemy who, with 
undaunted front, were firing as fast as they could 
load and daring him to come on. No more brave 
deed ever was done. Haw's Shop stamped Custer — 
and not Custer only but the men who followed him 
into that sanguinary hell of fire, as he dashed 
into the thickest of it — as "the bravest of the brave." 
He saved Gregg's division. He won the battle. He 
vanquished the very flower of the southern cavaliers. 
No more, after Haw's Shop, were heard those 
cruel and unjust words. "Who ever saw a dead 
cavalryman?" 

At Haw's Shop, as at Gettysburg, Custer and 
his brigade came opportunely to the relief of Gregg's 
splendid division. Upon those two battles alone, 
if there had been no other, their fame rests as secure 
as that of Cardigan and the light brigade for their 
charge at Balaklava. Here is a theme as noble as 
that which inspired the British bard, and soon or 
late, some American Tennyson, will sing of Custer 
and the Michigan brigade at Rummel's farm or at 
Haw's Shop, in verse as heroic as that of the English 
poet in "The Charge of the Light Brigade." 

Haw's Shop led up to Cold Harbor. Indeed, 
it was the beginning of that bloody struggle which 
Grant in his memoirs seems to apologize for as 
one that ought never to have been fought. The 



[ 93 ] 

afternoon of May 31, the Michigan and Reserve 
brigades — Custer and Merritt — drove the confed- 
erate cavalry out of Cold Harbor and took posses- 
sion of the place. The federal Infantry was ten 
miles away. The confederate infantry was con- 
centrating in front of the federal cavalry and Sheri- 
dan, believing that he could not hold the position 
with cavalry alone, fell back. Grant, realizing 
the strategic importance of the position, directed 
Sheridan to return and hold it at all hazards until 
the infantry could come up. Then followed one 
of the most remarkable features of that unexampled 
campaign. From midnight May 31 until noon 
June 1, a thin line of dismounted cavalry, behind a 
slight barrier of rails, with artillery in action close 
behind them, held off the confederate infantry in 
strong force. Then the Sixth corps came up and 
relieved them and the battle of Cold Harbor had 
begun. At reveille, that morning, the bugles of 
the enemy sounded close in front, the commands 
of the officers were heard distinctly. It seemed that 
at any moment they would charge right over that 
attenuated line. But the bold front of the cavalry 
completely deceived them. Custer was as usual 
the most conspicuous figure. Riding along the 
line, from right to left and from left to right again, 
he spoke encouraging words to his officers and men 
lying behind those piles of rails; inspiring them by 
his example and making them think they were 
invincible. Custer always was on horseback. He 
never was seen on foot in battle, even when every 
other officer and man in his command was dismounted. 
And he rode close to the very front line, fearless 
and resolute. When advancing against an enemy, 



[94] 

he was with the skirmishers; on the retreat, he 
rode with the rear guard. Those who had occasion to 
seek him out in battle, found him in the place nearest 
the enemy. Such was he at Gettysburg, at Brandy 
Station, at Buckland Mills, in the Wilderness, 
at Haw's Shop, and at Cold Harbor. By this time, 
the reason for his choosing so singular a uniform 
was seen. It individualized him. Wherever seen, 
it was recognized. There was but one Custer, 
and by his unique appearance and heroic bearing 
he was readily distinguished from all others. 

Then came Trevilian Station, that battle about 
which so much has been written and so little of 
the truth is really known, Grant had determined, 
after the terrible carnage in and around Cold Harbor, 
to make another movement by the left flank and 
shift the position of his entire army from the Pam- 
unkey to the James. Sheridan was directed to 
take two divisions of his cavalry and proceed 
leisurely to Charlottesville on the Virginia Central 
Railroad. The object of this raid was two fold: 
To draw away the confederate cavalry while the 
transfer was being made and to effect a junction 
with Hunter, who with a considerable force of 
infantry was operating between Charlottesville and 
Lynchburg. If successful in this, they were jointly 
to advance and capture Lynchburg. Sheridan's 
march began with the First and Second divisions 
(Torbert and Gregg) by crossing the Pamunkey at 
Newcastle ferry June 7, and going thence by easy 
stages along the north bank of the North Anna 
river, reaching Carpenter's ford the night of June 
10. Then he crossed and camped on the road 
leading past Clayton's store to Trevilian Station. 



[ 95 ] 

Trevilian is a station on the railroad between 
Louisa Courthouse and Gordonsville. 

As soon as Sheridan's movement was known, 
Hampton with two divisions of cavalry (his own 
and Fitzhugh Lee's), five brigades, moved parallel 
with Sheridan's march and on the south side of 
the river. He reached Trevilian Station the same 
night that Sheridan camped at Clayton's store. 
Breckinridge's corps of infantry started at the same 
time as Hampton, and succeeded in reaching Gor- 
donsville. Thus Sheridan had in his front, between 
him and Hunter, to meet his two divisions of 
cavalry, two divisions of cavalry and a corps of 
infantry. Moreover, Hunter instead of seeking 
to effect a junction, finding that he was intercepted, 
was marching the other way. It will be seen that, 
with no prospect of help from Hunter, Sheridan 
was easily "an unequal match for Achilles." 

But Hampton made one fatal blunder. On the 
night of June 10 his command was separated. 
He was in Trevilian Station with three brigades 
of cavalry. Fitzhugh Lee was at Louisa court- 
house seven miles away with two brigades. Breck- 
inridge was at or near Gordonsville. Hampton 
planned to advance from Trevilian Station to 
Clayton's store on the morning of June 11 and 
attack Sheridan. Fitzhugh Lee was to march by 
another road and unite with Hampton. Sheridan 
advanced from Clayton's store toward Trevilian 
Station to meet Hampton. The two lines met 
midway and a fierce battle resulted. 

Custer with the Michigan brigade had been 
in camp and picketing toward Louisa Courthouse. 
He was ordered to take a country road and come 



[96] 

into the station from a direction different from 
that taken by Torbert with the rest of the First 
division and one brigade of Gregg's division. The 
other brigade of the Second division was sent out 
toward Louisa Courthouse and intercepted Fitzhugh 
Lee, preventing his junction with Hampton. Custer 
also got between Lee and Hampton, around the 
latter's right flank into his rear, and captured a 
large number of his led horses and some of his trains, 
the capture being made by a charge of the Fifth 
Michigan cavalry. 

In the meantime, the fight was raging between 
Hampton and Torbert. Fitzhugh Lee was making 
a detour by still another road leading to the station. 
All the roads converged to that one point. 

When Hampton heard the tumult in his rear, 
caused by the Fifth Michigan, he recalled Rosser's 
brigade, which had been posted to protect his left 
flank, and the latter came into action in time to 
cut off the Fifth Michigan. The Sixth Michigan 
charged and drove away a portion of Young's brigade 
of Hampton's division, which interposed between 
Custer and the Fifth Michigan after the latter's 
charge. The First and Seventh Michigan, which 
had been out on the road to Louisa Courthouse, 
returned and Custer proceeded toward Trevilian, 
arriving just in time to encounter Rosser on his 
front and right flank and Fitzhugh Lee corning in 
on the road from Louisa Courthouse on his left 
flank; while still another force, the identity of 
which is not certain, attacked his rear. He was 
surrounded. His line for a time was in the form 
of a circle. Then it was that he was seen at his 
best. One gun of Pennington's battery was charged 



[ !'-. ] 

by Fitzhugh Lee and was taken. Custer made a 
counter charge and retook it. The fighting was 
hand to hand. He was everywhere present. First 
in front and then in rear, again on either flank. 
His color bearer was shot and to prevent the colors 
falling into the hands of the enemy he tore them 
from the staff and carried them to a place of safety. 
He was now in rear of Young's and Butler's brigades 
and Torbert was driving them back upon him. 
But Rosser being in his front, Fitzhugh Lee on his 
left flank and rear, the problem was to hold them 
off until Torbert could break through to his aid. 
The latter was finally successful in doing this. The 
two divisions united at last. Hampton was driven 
to the west, Fitzhugh Lee to the east, and they 
failed in their effort to come together. Custer's 
bulldog courage alone prevented it. 

The next day Sheridan advanced toward Gor- 
donsville, Custer and his brigade leading. A few 
miles out the confederate cavalry was found dis- 
mounted and intrenched. An engagement remark- 
able for its stubbornness followed. Hampton dem- 
onstrated that he was a hard fighter, as he had 
done at Haw's Shop. Fitzhugh Lee succeeded in 
reinforcing him at a critical moment, and it was 
believed at the time that Sheridan had some of 
Breckinridge's infantry from Gordonsville in his 
front, also. But that is doubtful. Custer's attack 
was vigorous and persistent, but not successful. 
The battle lasted all day and well into the night. 
The confederates never fought better and their 
losses were very heavy, including in the list of 
killed and wounded many officers of high rank. 
General Rosser was one of the wounded. Custer's 



[ 98 ] 

conduct of his part of the affair was brilliant in 
the extreme. His losses were greater than in any 
other engagement of the campaign, with the excep- 
tion of Haw's Shop. That night, Sheridan re- 
treated and rejoined the army. He had not suc- 
ceeded in taking Lynchburg or in finding Hunter, 
but he had relieved the army of the Potomac of 
the presence of the troublesome confederate cavalry 
while it was accomplishing its change of base. 

The planning and fighting of a battle, with 
its artful maneuvers and tactical stratagems, have 
been compared to a game of chess. To my mind, 
no cavalry engagement of the civil war had more 
points of resemblance to the moves of knights 
and pawns upon the chessboard than did the first 
day at Trevilian Station. Custer is said to have 
been a lover of the game of chess. If so, he certainly 
never found more difficulty in achieving a check- 
mate than when he attacked Hampton's rear 
only to find himself "checked" by Fitzhugh Lee's 
sudden appearance in his own rear. Both played 
the game with much skill but there was no check- 
mate at last. It was a drawn game, brilliantly 
though Custer played it. 

Most of the month of June, 1864, was consumed 
in the return march to the army. July was a month 
of comparative exemption from the strenuous and 
dangerous operations which had fallen to the 
cavalry, and which extended over a period of 
fifty-six days of constant marching and fighting, 
oftentimes by night and day. From May 6 to 
June 12, Custer's brigade lost 148 officers and 
men killed. From May 6 to June 26 it lost 269 
killed and wounded. Thirty-three were killed at 



[ 99 ] 

Yellow Tavern; forty-two at Haw's Shop; forty- 
one at Trevilian Station; one hundred and sixteen 
in the three battles. Custer himself was not even 
wounded. 

August 3, Custer and his Michigan brigade 
bade farewell to the army of the Potomac, and 
embarking on transports, steamed away to Wash- 
ington, whence they marched to the Shenandoah 
Valley, arriving at Halltown, in front of Harper's 
Ferry, August 10, in time to take part in the forward 
movement of the army of the "Middle Military 
Division" — a new department including West Vir- 
ginia, the Shenandoah Valley and Harper's Ferry- 
over which General Sheridan was to exercise 
supreme command. 

The Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864, 
which began August 10 and ended October 19, at 
Cedar Creek, a period of but seventy days, was 
epochal in its importance. Its results were far 
reaching. It marked the beginning of the end of 
the tragedy of the civil war. After Cedar Creek, 
the valley was no longer tenable by a hostile force. 
This storehouse of the confederacy had been stripped 
clean of everything that could contribute to the 
maintenance of an army. To use Grant's expres- 
sive phrase: "A crow flying over this region will 
have to carry its own rations." Grant had nothing 
to fear from that direction. Thenceforth the con- 
federacy was but an empty shell, about which that 
silent soldier gradually tightened his iron grip 
until he crushed it at Appomattox. 

Sheridan was the real hero of that epoch. He 
did his work thoroughly and well. Through it 
all, Custer was his right arm. He it was who struck 



1 100 ] 

the hardest and most effective blows. At Front 
Royal, August 16, his genius flashed out like a 
shining star when, after checking Fitzhugh Lee's 
cavalry, he caught the head of Anderson's division 
of infantry amid stream as it was fording the Shenan- 
doah river and smashed it, capturing hundreds of 
prisoners. At Shepherdstown, August 25, when left 
in the lurch by Torbert, and surrounded by Breck- 
inridge's infantry, he extricated his brigade from its 
perilous position by the most imperturbable coolness 
and brilliant strategy. At Winchester, September 
19, he charged across the Opequon creek in the 
face of infantry sharpshooters behind piles of rails. 
He charged, mounted, upon infantry lines behind 
stone fences. From early in the morning he kept 
up a running and relentless pursuit. He scattered 
Early's mounted cavalry like leaves before a blast. 
He paused not for volleys of musketry or enfilading 
artillery fire. At the last, he "rushed like a whirl- 
wind" down a slope upon swarms of infantry on the 
open plain and, his red necktie troopers close behind 
him, captured more prisoners than he had officers 
and men under him. 

Here will I pause. That was the last great 
battle in which Custer led the Michigan brigade. 
Alas! and alas! He was to be our leader no longer. 
Thenceforth the Wolverines must fain be content 
to serve under others, fated to look on with sad 
faces while the troopers of other states followed the 
red and blue emblem in the places which had known 
the Michigan cavalry so long but would know them 
no more forever. That, however, was no fault of 
General Custer. He wanted to take his old brigade 
with him into the Third cavalrv division. There is 



[ 101 ] 

plenty evidence of that. He hoped and expected 
that the transfer would be made. But through 
some mysterious and malign influence this was 
prevented. It was an open secret, however, at 
the time, that Sheridan had given Custer what' the 
latter believed to be an assurance that his wishes 
were to be respected. 

Winchester singled Custer out for a higher 
command. September 26, Averill having been re- 
lieved from command of the Second division, Custer 
was ordered to take his place. But before he could 
reach his new command, James H. Wilson was 
sent to Sherman, in the west, and Custer placed in 
command of the Third division. It was the Third 
division which had won such honors under Kilpatrick 
the previous year with Custer and Davies as its 
brigade commanders. But Davies had gone to 
the Second division when Custer went to the First 
and the old Third, the same only in name, had 
lost much of its elan. In the campaign of 1864 
it had to be content to follow where others led 
From the Rapidan to the James, the First division 
had been "the lancehead of the cavalry." What 
a change! Under Custer the Third division came 
to its own again. It was now the "lancehead." 
From Tom's Brook to Waynesborough ; and from 
Winchester to Appomattox— at Sailor's Creek at 
Five Forks, everywhere during the quick, effective 
and one-sided campaign of 1865— the Third division 
was always in advance— the avenging force that 
with inexorable persistence, flew at the fleeing and 
disintegrating columns of the confederate armies 
driving Lee to bay, at last, and compelling his 
surrender. It was Custer who was first at the death 



[102] 

It was Custer who clipped the brush. He received 
the flag of truce. He won this high commendation 
from Sheridan that no man deserved more than he 
from his country for his part in the closing scenes 
of the war tragedy. 

Custer's spectacular ride in the "grand review" 
formed a fitting finale to his record in the civil war. 
The president of the United States, the congress, 
the supreme court, the cabinet, the heads of depart- 
ments, high dignitaries both civil and military, 
ambassadors and ministers of foreign nations, were 
assembled in the immense grand stand, in front of 
the White House, to witness the greatest military 
pageant of modern times, if not of all times. The 
great army of Grant and the great army of Sherman 
were to pass in review. Pennsylvania avenue, 
from the capitol to the White House, and far beyond 
in either direction, was lined on both sides with 
an eager and enthusiastic multitude of spectators, 
numbering hundreds of thousands. 

On the first day, Custer riding at the head of 
his division which led the parade, picturesque, if- 
not spectacular to the last, bestrode a thorough bred 
stallion, named Don Juan, captured in North Car- 
olina and valued at ten thousand dollars. The 
horse, more accustomed to the bucolic quietude of 
his rural harem than to the bustle and roar of 
Pennsylvania avenue at such a time as that, finally 
took fright at the demonstrations made in honor of 
his rider and ran away. Beyond control, he rushed 
like "Black Auster" up the avenue. Between 
the lines of wondering people, past the treasury 
building, past the grand stand, he sped in his mad 
career, and was not checked until lie had passed out 



[ 103 ] 

of sight. Custer did not forget to salute as he 
"looked toward" the amazed spectators on the 
reviewing stand. 

Here this sketch might fittingly end. The 
statue is a memorial of him as an officer of volun- 
teers in the civil war. The book for which this is 
written is a souvenir of the statue and its dedication. 
But, inasmuch as the president of the United States 
in his address at the unveiling treated of Custer as 
an officer of regulars in Indian warfare, on the plains, 
I venture in conclusion to touch brief]}- upon Custer's 
Last Fight. 

The reorganization of the regular army which 
followed the civil war found Custer lieutenant 
colonel of the Seventh cavalry, a new regiment. 
The officers, field and line, were for the most part 
if not entirely, men who had served in the volun- 
teers, many of them with much higher rank. The 
actual command of the regiment fell to Custer, as 
the colonel never joined it. During the ten years 
—from 1866 to 1876— under the influence of his 
personality the Seventh cavalry made a record 
which equaled, if it did not surpass, the best tradi- 
tions of the old army. During that period the 
Indian question became acute and there were con- 
stant outbreaks of the red men, while the little 
force of regulars on duty on the plains had more 
than it could do to keep the "hostiles" in subjec- 
tion. 

In this Indian warfare Custer and his regiment, 
like Custer and the Third cavalry division in the 
last campaign of the civil war, were easily foremost. 
He was the most successful Indian fighter of his 
day, and was so regarded by all the military author- 



• [104] 

ities. For this reason when a campaign was de- 
termined upon to end the Indian troubles, he was 
looked upon as the proper leader. 

The plan of the campaign projected for the 
discomfiture of the hostile Indians was to advance 
against them from three directions, with three 
isolated columns having no means of intercommuni- 
cation, the idea being to surround them and prevent 
their "escape." One of these columns was to start 
from Fort Lincoln, Dakota; one from Fort Ellis in 
Western Montana; the other from Fort Fetter- 
man on the Platte river in Northern Wyoming. 
The first column was to be commanded by General 
Custer; the second by General Gibbon; the third 
by General Crook; all under the command of 
General Terry, department commander. Neither 
General Sherman at Washington, General Sheridan 
at Chicago, nor General Terry at St. Paul had any 
exact knowledge of the numbers or location of the 
hostile force which it was their purpose to corral. 
General Terry and General Gibbon were infantry 
officers with slight experience in Indian warfare 
and scant knowledge of the country in which they 
were to operate. Crook, like Custer, had seen 
service in the Indian country but, unlike Custer, 
had not distinguished himself by any marked 
success as an Indian fighter. Terry was personally 
to command the Fort Lincoln column of which the 
Seventh cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Custer 
was part. 

Crook's force in round numbers consisted of 
about 1,300 officers and men; Gibbon's of 400; 
Terry's of 1,000; not exceeding 2,700 all told. The 
estimates made at the headquarters of the army 



[105] 

did not place the fighting strength of the hostiles 
at more than 500 to 800 warriors. The effective 
strength of the Seventh cavalry did not much 
exceed 600. Custer on the eve of his departure 
from the Yellowstone thought he might meet 
1,000, possibly 1,500 fighting Indians. But he 
seems to have been alone in that opinion. The 
higher military authorities, from General Sherman 
down to General Terry, believed that either of the 
isolated columns could defeat the Indians. The 
only thing they feared was that they might get 
away. The only precautions to be taken were 
such as would prevent their "escape." There was 
nowhere a hint of apprehension that the Indians 
might get the better of the troops that were being 
sent against them. In his last order to Custer, 
dated June 22, 1876, Terry enjoined him thus: 

"Should it (the trail) be found to turn towards 
the Little Horn, you should proceed southward 
perhaps as far as the headwaters of the Tongue, 
and then turn towards the Little Horn, feeling 
constantly to your left, so as to preclude the pos- 
sibility of the escape of the Indians by passing 
around your left flank." 

And again: 

"It is hoped that the Indians may be so nearly 
enclosed by the two columns (Custer's and Gibbon's) 
that their escape will be impossible." 

Thus, when Custer started on his last ride the 
only fear that his immediate superior appeared to 
have was that he might permit the Indians to pass 
"around his left flank" and make their "escape." 
Not a hint of apprehension about the safety of his 
own command. Terry did not dream that more 



[ 106 1 

than 500 to 800 warriors would be encountered and 
his instructions contained in his final order were 
explicit and could not be misinterpreted. Custer 
was to go in "pursuit" of the Indians and prevent 
their "escape." Yet, at the funeral of General 
Terry, the pastor who preached the sermon, giving 
as his authority Col. Hughes, Terry's brother-in-law 
and personal aide, charged that Custer disobeyed 
Terry's orders and recklessly rushed upon his own 
fate. A more cruel and unwarranted charge never 
was made. It was both untrue and malicious. 
To thus assail the character of one dead hero over 
the remains of another was a desecration of the 
sanctuary; and as far as possible removed from 
the spirit of charity and magnanimity that are 
supposed to mark the words of the teacher of the 
Christian religion. 

The sequel showed that the available fighting 
strength of the hostiles was greater than, or at 
least fully equal to that of the three columns operat- 
ing against them combined, As we have seen, 
Terry, Crook and Gibbon altogether did not have over 
2,700 officers and men. A low estimate gives the 
hostiles 2,000 to 2,500. There has doubtless been 
much exaggeration and guess work in the published 
accounts, but there is little doubt that when Custer 
went into the fight with his 600 troopers more or 
less of the Seventh cavalry he was outnumbered 
three or four to one. The hostiles were concentrated 
in one place. They were armed with Winchester 
rifles and had plenty of fixed ammunition. They 
were splendid horsemen and well mounted. Custer 
knew all these things as no other officer knew them, 
and it is not strange that his face wore a serious 



[ 107 ] 

expression and that, during much of the time on 
that last fateful march, he appeared to be in thought- 
ful and abstracted mood. 

Crook's column starting in May marched by 
way of Old Fort Reno on the Powder river to the 
headwaters of the Rosebud where, on June 17, he 
encountered the hostiles and was so badly worsted 
in a fight with them as to be practically eliminated 
from the campaign. The fatuous character of the 
plan of campaign is shown by the fact that, on the 
day when Crook was waging this unsuccessful 
battle, Major Reno with a battalion of the Seventh 
cavalry was scouting up the Rosebud and, although 
they were less than fifty miles apart, neither knew 
of the presence of the other on that river. The 
Indians were between them. Nor did Terry know 
of Crook's defeat until long afterwards. Reno's 
scout, however, disclosed the whereabouts of the 
hostiles. He discovered their trail and it was 
correctly assumed that it led to the country along 
the Little Big Horn. 

They had driven Crook away and were preparing 
to meet the other columns successively as they 
might appear. But of this Terry knew nothing. 
He decided to send Custer with his regiment and 
the Crow and Ree scouts up the Rosebud in pur- 
suit of the Indians whose trail Reno had found. 
With the remainder of his own and all of Gibbon's 
command he was to move up the Big Horn to the 
mouth of the Little Horn, thus preventing the 
"escape" of the enemy to the north or west, while 
Custer headed them off to the south and east. In 
that way was he to circumvent Sitting Bull, the 
reputed head man of all the hostile Indians. 



[108] 

And here one word as to that redoubtable 
chief. As a leader of fighting men he was a myth. 
He had some reputation and influence as a "medicine 
man" but was in reality a coward and fakir. When 
Custer attacked the Sioux camp, Sitting Bull took 
his two wives and his twin children and ran away, 
not stopping until he was eight or ten miles from the 
battlefield, to which he did not return until the 
lighting was over. Then he came back with a 
flourish and said that he had been in the mountains 
"propitiating the evil spirits and invoking the gods 
of war." The real leaders of the Indians who 
defeated Custer were Gall, Crow King, and Crazy 
Horse. These were all Sioux chiefs, though the 
latter was affiliated with the Cheyennes through 
having a Cheyenne woman for his wife. He was 
chiefly responsible for Crook's defeat and he led 
the Cheyennes in the battle of the Little Big Horn.* 
After the battle of June 17, in which Crazy Horse 
defeated Crook, all the hostiles united under Gall, 
Sitting Bull "making medicine" and predicting 
dire disaster to the whites. 

The distance from the mouth of the Rosebud 
to the camp of the hostiles on the Little Horn was 
about ninety miles. Custer started on his march 
June 22 in the afternoon. He moved twelve miles 
and encamped. Early in the evening officers' call 
summoned the officers to his quarters and a long 
conference was held. According to General E. S. 
Godfrey, who was at that time lieutenant command- 
ing troop K, of the Seventh, and whose article 
published in the Century magazine for January, 

*My Friend The Indian, by James McLaughlin. 



[109] 

1892, is the best account of the march and battle 
that has been written, it was not a cheerful meeting. 
Custer was plainly depressed. He seemed to defer 
to the ideas of the other officers, something very 
unusual with him. Full instructions were given 
as to the details of the march; troop commanders 
were cautioned to keep within supporting distance 
of each other; they were assured that he relied 
fully upon their discretion, judgment and loyalty; 
he explained that he believed the Seventh cavalry 
able to cope successfully with any force it was likely 
to meet; and that in his judgment the enemy would 
not be able to bring into action more than 1,500 
fighting braves at the most. His tone was ingra- 
tiating and pleading — so far removed from that 
which he usually employed that one of his officers 
remarked as they were walking away from the 
interview: 

"Godfrey, I believe that General Custer is 
going to be killed." 

"Why do you think so?" said Godfrey. 

"Because, I never heard him talk that way 
before."* 

June 23, starting at five o'clock in the morning 
and going into camp at five in the afternoon, the 
column covered thirty-three miles. The trail of 
the Indians became distinct and the pony droppings 
and other signs indicated a very large party. The 
scouts were active and vigilant but perturbed, and 
the half-breed interpreter predicted that they were 

going to have "a big fight." Custer rode 

with the advance and was in constant communica- 



*Custer's Last Battle, by General E. S. Godfrey. 



[110] 

tion with the Indian scouts who seemed to become 
more and more impressed with the magnitude of 
the task which they had undertaken. The general 
was habitually grave, reticent and thoughtful. 

June 24, the march was slow, painstaking and 
tedious. The scouts did their work thoroughly 
and frequent halts were made so as not to get 
ahead of them. Signs were plentiful and unmistak- 
able. Signal fire smokes were seen. About sundown 
camp was made after marching twenty-eight miles. 
This was seventy-three miles from the starting 
point. At 11:30 the march was resumed and, 
at 2:00 a. m., the 25th, a halt was made after 
marching ten miles. Up to this time, it had been 
the intention of the general to get as near the 
divide as possible and not cross it until the next 
night, keeping his command under cover, his plan 
being to make the attack on the Indian village at 
daylight, or before daylight on the 26th. At 
eight o'clock he broke camp and marched till 10:30, 
making ten miles and secreted his command in a 
ravine. 

While here he seems to have concluded that 
further attempts at concealment were useless, that 
the enemy was aware of his approach and that to 
carry out his orders to prevent their escape it 
would be necessary to attack the camp at once. He 
had personally verified the report of the scouts as to 
the location of the hostiles on the west side of the 
river, the camp extending some three or four miles 
along the river from its upper to its lower end. He 
gave orders to advance to the attack and, soon 
after starting, divided his regiment into three 



[Ill] 

battalions — one of three troops under Major Reno; 
one of three troops under Captain Benteen; and one 
of five troops under his own immediate command. 
One troop brought up the rear with the pack train 
which carried the reserve ammunition. Reno had 
the advance, closely followed by Custer. Benteen 
was directed to go several hundred yards to the 
left and "pitch into" anything that he met. In 
this way the river was approached, opposite the 
upper end of the village. When Reno arrived pretty 
close to the river, Custer ordered him to cross, 
advance as rapidly as he deemed prudent, and 
when he struck the village to charge it and he would 
be supported by "the entire outfit." Custer then 
turned to the right along a ridge' parallel with the 
river with the obvious purpose of attacking the 
village lower down at the same time that Reno 
made his charge. Custer's march was within plain 
sight of the Indian camp, but Reno's approach was 
unseen and the Indians were taken by surprise. 
No intimation of danger from that direction had 
come to the Indians until bullets from Reno's carbines 
began to whiz through the tepees. This it was that 
caused the flight of Sitting Bull. Undoubtedly 
Custer exposed his column to view in order to divert 
attention from Reno's movement. It is also certain 
that he expected Reno to obey his order to charge 
the village, and believed that it would give him 
(Custer) an opportunity to strike an effective blow 
lower down. Reno's attack struck terror into the 
village and, if it had been pressed, as Custer thought 
it would be, the stampede which Sitting Bull started 
might have become general. But, unfortunately, 



[ 112 ] 

it was not pressed. Reno headed a stampede 
back across the river into the hills. Gall and the 
fighting braves who had hurried from the lower 
end of the camp, where they had been watching 
Custer, to meet Reno's unexpected attack, after 
following him across the river had time to return 
to the lower end and take part in the destruction of 
Custer a n d his battalion. They even used the 
guns and ammunition and rode the horses which 
they had captured from Reno in his retreat. Reno's 
ignominious retreat allowed the entire force of 
hostiles to concentrate in front of Custer. When 
Gall, after driving Reno to the hills, returned to 
the lower end of the camp where Crazy Horse was 
with the Cheyennes, Custer's column was still 
some distance away. Reno had as much time to 
go to Custer's relief as Gall had to return and get 
into the fight with Custer, but he does not appear 
to have had a thought of going to the aid of his 
chief. 

The last that was seen of Custer alive was when 
Reno after crossing the river was advancing toward 
the Indian village. He waved his hat as if to 
encourage Reno and his men, a cheer was heard 
and then he moved on to do his part. The trail 
and the accounts given by the Indians show that 
he did not swerve from his purpose to attack the 
Indian camp until he was overwhelmed by the com- 
bined force of the hostiles all concentrated against 
the five troops which went to death with him. 

At the time when Custer was seen to wave his 
hat and his men were heard to cheer, he seems to 
have begun to realize, if he had not suspected it 



t 113 ] 

before, that the hostile force was greater than even 
he had estimated, for an order written by Cook, 
the adjutant, was despatched by a trumpeter to 
Benteen which read as follows: 

"Bentecn, come on, big village. Be quick. 
Bring packs. P. S. Bring packs." 

The imperative character of the order is apparent 
at a glance. 

"Come on! Be quick! Big village! Bring packs! 
Bringpacks!" could have but one meaning. Benteen 
was needed. The necessity of having the reserve 
ammunition at hand had become apparent. Reno 
was attacking the village and Custer was going to 
support the attack by assailing it lower clown, but 
he wanted Benteen with his three troops and the 
pack train with its one troop and its ammunition, 
making four troops in all, which would very nearly 
double the force which he had with him. Besides, 
it was essential that Benteen be brought into the 
engagement in order to support Reno with "the 
whole outfit" as he had promised. He had no 
reason to doubt that Benteen when he received 
that order would certainly "Come on" and "Be 
quick" about it. Also, he had no reason to doubt 
that Reno would hold the attention of the hostiles, 
who were not numerous in his front, until Custer 
reinforced by Benteen could reach the point of 
attack toward which they were moving. Benteen 
had plenty of time to overtake Custer if he had 
zealously and in good faith obeyed the order to 
"Come on!" and "Be quick!" The trumpeter who 
brought the order went back and was killed with the 
others. Custer's march was slow. He was clearly 



[Ill] 

looking for Benteen to join him before making the 
attack. If he suspected that Reno had been driven 
back, he had a right to suppose that both Reno and 
Benteen would make the effort to come to his aid, 
for he could see that the Indians were concentrating 
in his own front. Disappointed in this, he must 
have concluded that it was his duty to go ahead 
and support Reno "with the whole outfit" as he 
had promised, perilous as he must have deemed it 
to do this with his small force. He doubtless 
waited till all hope of help was lost and then with a 
brave heart went to his death. 

Reno disobeyed his orders when he failed to 
charge the village. If he had done that, it is the 
testimony of the Indians who were there, says 
McLaughlin, that he would have thrown it into 
such a state of consternation at the time when 
Sitting Bull ran away that the diversion would 
have materially aided Custer's movement. If Reno 
had not stampeded to the hills on the other side of 
the river, Benteen would have obeyed his order to 
"Come on" and "Be quick." He would have 
overtaken Custer and the result might have been 
different. Reno ran away to the hills without 
making any fight at all, to speak of. Benteen came 
up, found him there and was ordered to remain 
with him. That was at 2:30. Custer was not 
defeated till 3 o'clock. After Benteen joined Reno, 
two distinct volleys were heard in the direction where 
Custer was. Godfrey's opinion is that they were 
fired as signals. Who will say that, if Reno had 
taken up the march immediately with the seven 
troops that he then had with him, in the direction 



[ 115 ] 

of the sound of that firing, there would not have 
been a different story to tell of the battle of the 
Little Big Horn? 

The result is known. General Sherman said 
that when he came in contact with the Indians 
Custer had no alternative but to fight. His orders 
from General Terry contemplated that he should 
go out in "pursuit" of the Indians and prevent 
their "escape." Nothing could be plainer or more 
explicit than those orders. Everything else was 
left to Custer's judgment. "Do not allow them 
to escape by passing to the southeast around your 
left flank" was the sum and substance of those 
final orders. It was for this purpose, of course, 
that Benteen's battalion was sent out on the left 
flank, but when it was found that the Indians, so 
far from retreating and trying to escape were in 
reality waiting for a fight, the necessity for this 
flanking movement was at an end. Benteen was 
called in by a peremptory order which read: "Ben- 
teen, come on! Be quick! Big village! Bring 
packs! Bring packs!" The very wording of the 
order indicates its urgency. When Custer went 
to the high point overlooking the valley where the 
Sioux and their allies were encamped he saw that 
it was a "big village" — much bigger than he or 
anybody else had foreseen — that the Indians were 
not running away; that immense herds of ponies 
were grazing in the distance; that the hostiles were 
on the alert and awaiting his approach; he could 
not turn back. He must go on and support Reno 
with the whole outfit, Benteen included. 

But, what of Benteen? He had not yet come 



[116] 

into the fight. "Come on! Benteen! Be quick! 
Bring packs! Bring packs! Big village!" 

Halting only long enough to dictate this earnest 
and urgent appeal — this positive order — which from 
any officer receiving it demanded instant obedience; 
and which any soldier of the heroic mold would die 
rather than to disobey; and resting in the assurance 
that it would be obeyed, Custer went on to his duty 
and his doom. 

The despatch was received by the officer to whom 
it was sent. It was placed in the hands of Captain 
Benteen. It reached its destination in time. But 
Benteen did not come. He found Reno cowering 
in the hills and reported to him. Both of these 
officers, after their junction, heard the volleys 
fired as signals for them to "come on" and "be 
quick." They heard but did not heed. And while 
they hesitated Custer and his little band of heroes 
were done to death. Not a single one escaped to 
tell the story of how it was done. 

Two days later Terry with Gibbon's column came 
up from the north and west. The Indians had 
escaped around Gibbon's flank. Reno and Benteen 
were there. They had saved their lives, but Custer 
and two hundred and sixteen of his officers and 
men lay dead, naked and mutilated on the field 
where they fought. Custer and Captain Keogh 
were the only ones who escaped mutilation after 
death. 

Thus died our hero. A modest stone erected by 
the government marks the spot where he fell. His 
remains, easily identified, were removed and interred 
at West Point on the Hudson, a fitting place of 



[117] 

sepulture for one who never failed in his duty to 
his country, his family or to his own manhood. 
"May he rest in peace" and may his memory ever 
be kept green is the wish of every survivor of those 
who fought under him and knew his sterling worth 
as a soldier and as a man* 

zine*foMunp le ,q]'i Gen l f- r ? 1 Ne ' S ° n % Mlles in the Cosmopolitan Maga- 

tl,! V '■ 9H ' Whlch came to hand when I was reading the proof 

of the foregoing, intimates that Gall and his force of Indians after 

Cul™rl franYhV h , e hl " S V, 1 dld T T t CTOSS the river but followed 
Luster s trail, thus placing themselves between Reno and Custer on 
the same side, attacking Custer's rear and left flank "LnCrazl Horse 
andr, h gh t 0t fla e n S k. Cr0SS,ng ^ ™ T ,ower do ™' came in oSw " 

This makes it all the worse for Reno and Benteen If thev had 
advanced when the volleys were fired after their junction this would 
have prevented Gall's successful attack on Custer . Ftftee im im, tes 
would have brought them into the action. "iieen rmnutes 



"The Last Charge 

By Leavitt Hunt 

In yon ravine, with teeming life, 

Two thousand lodges rise; 
The Sioux in camp, but ever rife, 
The war-path watch, with gun and knife, 

Well armed against surprise. 

But now our comrades strike the trail, 

Hail! Small devoted band! 
Three hundred of the Seventh, hail! 
Whoever knew a charge to fail 

With Custer in command? 

Dare Custer charge that savage lair 

Where duty means to die? 
Gives answer quick the trumpet's blare 
That sounds his last command in air: 

"In column — charge — by company!" 

Whom summons this last bugle call 

To charge the deadly pace? 
His brothers, kinsmen, doomed to fall, 
They number five, but they are all 

Akin to Custer's race. 

Let fall the rein, the chargers dash 

Like tigers in a den ; 
Barred in, they fall 'neath rifle crash, 
But, falling, deal the deadly gash; 

They are but one to ten. 

At eve all lay, by death enrolled, 

In ghastly bivouac. 
Alone Death stalked, the story told 
Of men of more than Spartan mold, 

That column of attack. 



[120] 



The sun sank down deep-dyed in blood, 

When, lo! a phantom shade 
Of kindred spirits capped with hood 
In battle line, to greet them, stood 
The deathless Light Brigade. 

In low salute their colors dip, 

As Custer moves before; 
Their sabres sink, in veteran grip, 
One gleam illumines every tip, 

To comrades, as of yore. 

They wheel in rear, with pennon lance, 

An escort, man for man; 
Their champing chargers proudly prance, 
Through arch of glory they advance 

And Custer leads the van." 



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